7/27 From 1975: Freese-Frame, Fort-itude, Jay Day, Gems, Scrappy Sweep, Game Days, Candy POTW, Santana-Severino, Cobra HoF

1977 - Down by a pair to the Astros at TRS and with their six-game winning streak in peril, the Bucs put their nose to the grindstone and scored in three of the final four innings to eke out a 3-2 win. Down 2-0 in the eighth inning, Omar Moreno singled, stole second and came home on Fernando Gonzalez’s pinch hit single. Bill Robinson led off the ninth frame with a game-knotting dinger and scored the game-winner in the 11th. He walked, moved up to second via a sac bunt and continued on to third base when the throw hit him. Bill plated on Rennie Stennett’s walkoff line hugger to right. Kent Tekulve, the Bucs fourth hurler following Odell Jones, Grant Jackson and Goose Gossage, claimed the win. The squad stayed hot and swept Houston the next night, but their streak ended at eight straight at the hands of the Atlanta Braves and Phil Niekro.

1979 - The Bucs swept Montreal in a twin bill at Olympic Stadium in front of 59,260, one of the biggest baseball turnouts in Canada. They took the opener 5-4, three times losing leads to the pesky Expos before Phil Garner’s eighth-inning single scored Dave Parker with the game winner. Scrap Iron had a big game, with three hits and a homer, while Kent Tekulve allowed an inherited runner to score in the seventh to tie the game but still got the win with Enrique Romo picking up the save. Bob Robertson went long and had four RBI while Phil Garner went 3-for-4 again with four runs scored in the Bucs 9-1 win in the nitecap. Bert Blyleven went the distance, scattering five hits and striking out nine as the Bucs moved within 1/2 game of the first-place Expos.

1982 - Larry McWilliams tossed a three-hitter (he took a no-no into the seventh inning) and struck out 11 in a wire-to-wire 4-0 win over Philadelphia at TRS. Jason Thompson drove home a pair and Bill Madlock homered to provide the cushion against the Phils. In more good pitching news, John Candelaria was named the NL Pitcher of the Week after beating Cincy 3-1 and Atlanta 8-0 to run his season slash to 7-4/2.67 while working on a six-game unbeaten streak.

1983 - Jose DeLeon spun a four-hitter while Rennie Stennett & Johnny Ray combined for six hits, three homers and seven RBI to lead a 15-hit attack as the Bucs rolled over San Diego at TRS, 10-1. DeLeon struck out seven Padres and carried a no-hitter through the sixth inning in his second major league start (he beat San Francisco in his debut) and first complete game. 

Jose DeLeon - 1984 Donruss

1988 - The Pirates found a ball but lost their catcher while taking a 3-2, 10-inning decision from the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. In the third inning, Bobby Bonilla at third base lost a foul pop and Junior Ortiz hunted it down, making a diving, tumbling grab. He broke his collarbone in the process and was lost to the team until mid-September with Mike Lavalliere picking up most of the slack along with Tom Prince. The Pirates had an early 2-0 lead thanks to a Barry Bonds third-inning triple sandwiched between a single & grounder, and won it in the 10th frame when Bonds was chased home by Jose Lind’s double. The two-bagger extended Chico’s hitting streak to nine games and kept the Pirates two games behind the New York Mets in the standings. Mike Dunne started the game which was won by Jeff Robinson and saved by Jim Gott.

1991 - Jay Bell had the first two-homer game of his career while going 4-for-5 with four RBI and four runs scored in Pittsburgh’s 11-5 win at the Houston Astrodome. Bell opened with a homer in the first frame, then added a three-run shot in the sixth inning to extend the Bucs’ lead to 11-0. Barry Bonds added three RBI and scored twice as Randy Tomlin picked up the win.

1998 - 2B Tony Womack set a record of 888 consecutive at-bats without grounding into a double play in an 8-7, 13-inning loss to the Rox at Coors Field. The previous record had been held by Brooklyn's Pete Reiser, set in the mid-forties. Tony ran the mark to 219 straight games and 918 at-bats without hitting into a twin killing. Jose Guillen had four hits and a homer (he also made one of the great throws in Pirates history, gunning a ball from the warning track in right on the fly to 3B Keith Osik to hose Neifi Perez by five feet) while Kevin Young also went long with three RBI.

1999 - In one of baseball’s weirder promotions, the Pirates defeated the New York Mets 5-1 in the first of MLB's "Turn Ahead the Clock Nights," sponsored by Century 21 Real Estate. Each team wore futuristic uniforms (the Bucs had red jerseys with yellow sleeves and a giant Bucco head logo, costumes better fit for Barnum & Bailey than a ballyard), with the hometown squad becoming the "Mercury" Mets for the night. The pregame welcome was “Greetings, earthlings. Welcome to Shea Station 4C. Blastoff time is 7:40.” The futuristic theme was carried on throughout the evening, with the scoreboard flashing computerized graphics of the players in the MLB space age as each came to the plate. Rickey Henderson, for example, was given three eyes and pointy ears, and played "left quadrant." Al Martin hit the first of his two HRs in the first "sector‚" and rookie Kris Benson went all nine sectors for the win; it was his first complete MLB game.

2009 - In an otherwise unremarkable 4-2 loss to Tim Lincecum at AT&T Park, Delwyn Young added a little spice to the show. Randy Winn’s bloop into right went off right fielder Garrett Jones’ mitt, then he soccer-balled it off his knee and kicked it into the air with his foot for good measure. Young, playing second, dove after the horsehide hacky-sack and made a lunging barehanded grab. Alas, despite the dexterity and degree of difficulty in recording the out, the ump blew the call and gave Winn a hit, which was how the Pirates’ luck ran back then. Regardless of the call on the field, Tribune Review writer Joe Starkey called the catch the “best play of the decade.”

Mike McKenry - 2013 Mike Rebilus/USA Today

2013 - Mike McKenry showed why MLB catchers are a different breed of cat. He caught the final three frames of a 7-4 win against Miami at Marlins Park after tearing the lateral meniscus in his left knee during a slide, an injury that required season-ending surgery three days later. It was hard to tell he was one-legged, as the reserve catcher, who soldiered through the game because starting catcher Russell Martin had tweaked his knee the previous night, went 4-for-5, the only four-hit game of his career. Charlie Morton won with a save by Mark Melancon.

2016 - It took 88 tries, but Gerrit Cole tossed his first complete game, spinning a three-hitter against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park on the way to a 10-1 Bucco romp. The top of the order was smoking as Jordy Mercer & Andrew McCutchen had three hits apiece while Starling Marte & David Freese added a pair. The foursome went 10-for-17 with four doubles, a homer, two walks and HBP, scoring eight times and chasing home six. And the fifth guy in the order, Jung Ho Kang added a base-loaded double and had four RBI on the night. Ross Ohlendorf, btw, reclaimed the franchise’s title for going the longest without a CG at 64 starts.

2018 - The Bucs had dropped two in a row, coinciding with injuries to Starling Marte and Corey Dickerson, and things looked bleak when Michael Conforto lit up Ivan Nova for a three-run, first-inning homer at PNC Park to give the Mets a quick lead. An inning later, Josh Bell left the game with an oblique injury, but veteran platoon guy David Freese carried the team through the grind to a 5-4 victory. He was aboard five times with three hits, including a homer and two walks, while driving home all five runs, the last a ninth-inning walkoff rap. The Bucco bullpen carried its weight after Nova departed, tossing four innings of scoreless, three-hit ball with five whiffs. Edgar Santana and Kyle Crick held the fort before Felipe Vazquez tossed the ninth inning for the win. 

2023 - The Pirates traded 1B Carlos Santana, 37, to the Milwaukee Brewers for SS prospect Jhonny Severino. “Slamtana” joined his sixth team in five years (now he’s with Cleveland) after slashing .235/12/53 in Pittsburgh with solid leatherwork. The 18-year-old Severino was an international signee in 2022 by the Brew Crew, played in the Dominican Summer League and was promoted to the Arizona Rookie League this year (.250/4 HR in 12 games). The switch-hitter was a Top 25 International Prospect but wasn’t listed among Milwaukee’s Top 30 organizational prospects, and at least six other shortstops in the system were ranked ahead of him, so the FO opted to accept the teen lottery ticket for Santana. Jhonny is now at Greensboro, lighting it up.

2025 - RF Dave “The Cobra” Parker, along with Dick Allen, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Parker entered the Hall as a Bucco (He played for Pittsburgh for 11 of his nineteen big league seasons) and was the 14th HoF’er who spent most of his career with the Pirates, joining Jake Beckley, Max Carey, Fred Clarke, Roberto Clemente, owner Barney Dreyfuss, Ralph Kiner, Bill Mazeroski, Willie Stargell, Pie Traynor, Arky Vaughan, Honus Wagner, Lloyd Waner and Paul Waner. The Cobra’s career resume includes: .290 BA/339 HRs/1,493 RBI/1272 Runs, back-to-back batting titles in 1977/1978 and NL-MVP in ‘78. He also was a seven-time All Star while winning three Golden Glove and three Silver Slugger awards. The Pirates celebrated during the PNC series against Arizona that led up to the ceremony with park displays, throw-back unis and a Cobra patch.