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5/7 From 1970: Cutchin'; Phil's First; Fleet Street; Long Balls; Lost Gems; Game Tales; Raul's Ploy; TV Chatter; HBD Angel, Keon & Mark

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 7:01

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1970 – OF/1B Mark Smith was born in Pasadena, California. He only played for the Bucs for two seasons (1997-98) with a .249 BA and 11 HR in 366 PA, but delivered one of the franchise’s memorable clutch blows when his pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 10th won the combined no-hitter of Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon of July 12th, 1997 at TRS against Houston.
1973 – The Bucs scored five runs on five solo homers in a 5-4 Pirates win over LA at Dodger Stadium, tying a ballpark record. The long balls were launched by Willie Stargell, Dave Cash, Richie Hebner, Manny Sanguillen, and Al Oliver. It was just enough to give Bob Johnson the win in relief of Luke Walker; he and Jim Rooker tossed five innings of scoreless, two-hit ball after Walker was chased.
1974 – The ‘Stros beat the Pirates, 2-1, at the Astrodome in one hour, 48 minutes, as Tom Griffin pitched a one-hitter to outgun Dock Ellis, who struck out 10. Willie Stargell had the Buccos lone hit; the run scored in the fourth when Houston committed three consecutive two-out errors, allowing one Bucco to plate but cutting down another when Manny Sanguillen was tossed out at home. Milt May, a Pirate the year before, hit the game-winning triple against his old mateys.
1977 – In a start-to-finish slugfest, the Pirates beat the Reds, 12-10, at TRS to improve their record to 16-7. Trailing 4-0 after a half-inning of play, Willie Stargell hit his first of two home runs in the bottom of the first, a three-run shot, while Dave Parker extended his hitting streak to 18 games and Al Oliver went 2-for-4 with a home run. The two clubs clubbed 26 hits, of which 14 went for extra-bases and half of which were homers. Terry Forster won with a Kent Tekulve save.

Cap’n Willie – 2020 Topps Allen & Ginter Longball Lore

1978 – The Pirates stole eight bases off Dodger lefty Tommy John, who was notorious for a slow delivery and disdain at holding runners, and raced their way to a 6-4 win against LA at TRS. Omar Moreno, Frank Taveras and Bill Robinson each swiped a pair of sacks, while Phil Garner and even Pirates hurler Jim Rooker (he swiped three during his career) joined the parade. The City of Angels made a late run at the Bucs, scoring in the eighth on four walks – Pittsburgh pitchers helped negate the running attack by issuing eight free passes – and tightening the gap with three unearned runs in the ninth until Kent Tekulve closed the book.
1981 – Still gimpy with a balky knee, 41-year-old Willie Stargell made his first appearance of the season, playing 1B against the Reds at Riverfront Stadium in the second game of a twin bill that the Pirates swept by 3-1, 7-1 tallies behind Rick Rhoden and Buddy Solomon. Pops became just the fourth player in MLB history to play 20 years for the same team he began with (the others were Cap Anson of the Cubs, Mel Ott of the Giants, and Stan Musial of the Cards), a journey that for Willie began in 1962. The bad wheel limited him to 38 games that season and 1982 would be his big league swan song. The game wasn’t all sweetness and love, though, as Dave Parker was once again the victim of fans throwing debris at him in the pasture. The umps cleared the field and held up play for 10 minutes until a half-dozen fans were removed, with one arrest made.
1990 – OF Keon Broxton was born in Lakeland, Florida. The Pirates purchased his contract from Arizona in 2013, and he was called up in September, 2016. He got into seven games and went 0-for-2, but scored three runs and stole a base as a pinch-runner. In December, Broxton was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers along with Trey Supak for 1B/3B Jason Rogers. Rogers became redundant when the Pirates signed David Freese while Broxton featured speed and elite leather but had issues reaching base, showing decent power but with a sky-high K rate. He played in the Mexican League in ’23 and hasn’t found a landing spot for 2024.

Keon Broxton – 2013 MLB.com photo

1991 – The Pirates beat the Reds, 7-2, behind Randy Tomlin but the big show was on TV. In the seventh inning, manager Jim Leyland, who didn’t realize there was a live mic in the dugout, was caught by the home audience spewing a cuss word or two at the ump while debating a call. The best programming was in the third, though, when Jay Bell didn’t run out a two-out fly by Andy Van Slyke; AVS lit into Bell, who had a string of inattentiveness during the week, and they went nose-to-nose before the cameras until Chico Lind broke up their klatch. Neither player had much to say about the ado, but apparently it was quickly bygone as they were interviewed while playing cards together after the game.
1994 – LHP Angel Perdomo was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. Angel appeared in 22 games in 2020-21 for the Brewers, was DFA’ed and spent 2022 with Tampa Bay’s AAA club, was released before signing by the Bucs in 2023 as a free agent. He started out in Indy and was called up in June as the Bucs were thin on the left side in the bullpen
1993 – The Pirates drew almost 31,000 to TRS, only to lose to Montreal, 1-0. It wasn’t as if the Bucs were shut down, stranding 11 runners while going 0-for-10 w/RISP on eight hits. Worse, they gifted Montreal its only run in the fourth frame thanks to a bopped-in-the-foot Moises Alou, who was then picked off but was granted a second life due to a screw-up on the rundown (no one covered second base), a bouncer to second and a sac fly. Randy Tomlin was the tough luck loser.
2004 – OF Raul Mondesi returned to the Dominican Republic with the Pirates blessing to fight a lawsuit filed by former big leaguer Mario Guerrero. However, it turned into a smokescreen to wriggle out of his deal with the Bucs. The charade worked – he stayed away, and the Pirates, who could have iced him on the restricted list, instead decided it was better to cut him loose, which they did on the 19th by terminating his contract. On the 30th, he signed with Anaheim and finished his MLB career in Atlanta the following year.

Phil Dumatrait – 2008 photo Mitchell Layton/Getty

2008 – The Pirates whipped the Giants, 3-1, at PNC Park. Second-year man Phil Dumatrait won his first MLB decision while vet Barry Zito lost his seventh game in seven starts. The game’s big blow was a two-run homer in the fourth by Xavier Nady. Dumatrait was a promising 26-year-old who tossed 5-2/3 IP of two-hit, shutout ball on this day, but would be cut down by arm surgery later in the year. He came back late in 2009, was ineffective, and refused an assignment to the minors, tossing in Korea in 2010. He was with the Twins in 2011 and then retired.
2013 – Andrew McCutchen recorded his second four-hit outing in six games to lead the Pirates to a 4-1 win against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park. Garrett Jones swatted a two-run homer in the eighth inning to put it on ice for the Buccos. Starter Jeanmar Gomez got the win and Jason Grilli was credited with the save in a game that saw five Bucco pitchers cover the final four frames.
2015 – The Pirates ended a five-game skid (part of a 7 games-of-8 losing streak) in a 7-2 win against Cincinnati at PNC Park. Pittsburgh had scored just five runs during their slide, dropping three walk-off losses to St. Louis and a shutout the day before. AJ Burnett got the win; the club had scored just five runs behind him in his first five starts. To add the cherry on top, AJ picked up strikeout #2,401, putting him among the top 40 whiff artists in baseball history. Andrew McCutchen broke out of a season-long slump with three hits to lead a balanced Bucco attack.
2022 – The Bucs came out on fire in the second game of a twin bill as Bryan Reynolds, Yoshi Tsutsuto and Diego Castillo all homered in the first frame (it was the first time in franchise history that the Bucs banged three first-inning long balls) to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead over the Reds at GABP. The game see-sawed afterwards as Mitch Keller was hit hard, but a two-run dinger by Ben Gamel and shutdown pitching by winner Heath Humbree, Max Kranick, Chris Stratton & David Bednar closing sewed up an 8-5 win. The opener was 2-2 going into the eighth when the Pittsburgh wheels fell off. The Pirates loaded the bases with no outs for the middle of the order, but left them juiced after three straight swingin’ whiffs. C Roberto Perez was then removed after a hammy pull (he was later placed on the 10-day IL), with backup Andrew Knapp already tossed for barking from the dugout, and so infielder Josh VanMeter caught for the first time and the Reds took advantage, scoring seven times and winning, 9-2.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2024/05/57-from-1970-cutchin-phils-first-fleet.html

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