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8/18 From 1970: B-Rey Bops, Zach, Sveum, Mad Dog, Richie & Game Tales, LL Classic, JC Signs, Wilson-Hatcher; HBD Yu-Cheng, Austin & Justin

Monday, August 18, 2025 7:01

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1974 – The Bucs completed a three game sweep of the Dodgers at TRS, winning 10-3 behind the big sticks of Bob Robertson and Richie Zisk. The pair combined to go 7-for-10 with five runs and five RBI, each collecting a homer and banging out three doubles together. Rennie Stennett and Manny Sanguillen went 6-for-9 at the top of the order and scored three runs as Larry Demery cruised to the win with help from Dave Giusti. The game concluded a 25-of-35 streak; after a pair of losses, the Bucs then won 14-of-17 on their way to a division title. They ran into LA again in the NLCS, dropping the best-of-five series three games to one.
1976 – Bucco bats were smokin’ against the Giants John “The Count” Montefusco and Mike Caldwell as Pittsburgh ran away with a rain-shortened 12-1 win over San Francisco at Candlestick Park. Every player in the lineup had a hit, and four different Pirates either scored or drove in two or more runs. Richie Zisk led the way with a 4-for-4 day; five of his teammates had a pair of knocks. Jim Rooker rolled to victory, giving up four hits in six innings before the rain fell.
1985 – Bill Madlock went 4-for-4 and swatted a pair of homers to lead the Pirates to a 5-0 win over the Mets at TRS. Mad Dog was on a roll; he had long balls in each of his past two games, and went on to take the National League Player of the Week honors. Winner Don Robinson went six innings and Pat Clements spun the last three, combining for a five-hit whitewash.
1987 – LHP Justin Wilson was born in Anaheim, California. A fifth round pick in 2008 from Fresno, he didn’t sign him until two days before the deadline. A starter throughout his career (he was involved in a pair of no-hitters at AAA Indy), he was converted to a multi-purpose pen arm in the show, making his debut in 2012. He went 9-5/2.99 during his Pirates stint (2012-14) before being traded to the Yankees for Fran Cervelli, and is now with the Red Sox, his seventh different club.

Justin Wilson – 2013 Topps Heritage Rookie

1987 – The Pirates and Reds were tied after six, 4-4, at Riverfront Stadium, but the Bucs featured homers, double plays and whiffs to pull away in the final three frames for a 7-4 victory. John Cangelosi gave Pittsburgh the lead in the seventh with a solo shot to center, then Barry Jones put up zippos against Cincinnati that inning and the eighth thanks to a pair of twin killings. The coup ‘de gras was provided in the ninth when Barry Bonds and Bobby Bo went long and Jim Gott fanned two-of-three Redlegs to clinch the game and a win for Bob Walk.
1989 – The Pirates traded OF Glenn Wilson to the Astros for OF Billy Hatcher. Wilson had hit well (.274) for the Bucs before the deal, but flopped with Houston. Hatcher didn’t do much at the plate for Pittsburgh either (.244 BA/68 OPS+) and was traded the next April to the Reds.
1992 – C Austin Hedges was born in San Juan Capistrano, California. He was a second round draft pick of the Padres in 2011 out of Serra Catholic HS and debuted with San Diego in 2015. Hedges was part of the 2020 Mike Clevinger deal with Cleveland before the Pirates signed him in the 2022 off season (one-year/$5M). Pittsburgh had a gaping hole at catcher and he’s reputedly an excellent handler of the staff with an elite mitt, but that’s offset by a career .189 BA. He was sent to the Texas Rangers at the deadline for international pool space after batting .180 with a 28 OPS+ for Pittsburgh. He’s back with the Cleveland Guardians now.
1992 – LHP Zane Smith’s bum wing had a dominoes effect on Pirates pitching. After tendinitis landed Smith on the DL for the second time, Bob Walk, who had been a spot starter working out of the bullpen, took his place in the rotation and Danny Cox, who had been fighting his own arm woes, was brought up from Buffalo to replace Walk. It worked out pretty well – Walkie and Smith won 18 games between them and Cox slashed 3-1-3/3.33 out of the pen.

Zane Smith – 1992 Bowman

1995 – IF Yu-Cheng Chang was born in Taitung, China. Chang, who was in his fourth campaign with the Cleveland Guardians, was purchased by the Pirates in May, 2022, after he had been DFA’ed and injuries left the Bucs threadbare at first base. He had shown some power in 2021, playing in 89 games, but with a sky-high K rate. The strikeouts continued in ‘22 with both clubs. The Pirates DFA’ed him in June, 2022 and he was claimed by the Tampa Bay Rays. They let him go in September and Yu now plays in Taiwan.
1997 – A smattering of names usually not on the bingo card led the Bucs to a 7-2 victory over the Florida Marlins at Pro Player Stadium. Leadoff hitter Jermaine Allensworth was a triple shy of the cycle, scored twice and drove in two runs. Dale Sveum also went long, tallied twice and chased three runs home while Eddie Williams, playing both corners, delivered three knocks. Jose DeLeon went six innings for the win while Jason Christiansen, Marc Wilkins and Rich Loiselle added three hitless frames to bring it home. The game broke open late when the Bucs, aided by a couple of Fish boots, put up five runs in the final three innings.
1998 – LHP Jason Christiansen agreed to a two-year/$1.725M agreement with the Bucs, a nice boost over his current $320K deal. He almost outlasted the contract, leaving the team at the 2000 deadline when he was dealt to St. Louis. He worked through 2005 to close an 11-year MLB career.
1999 – Dale Sveum became the second Pirate (Bobby Bonilla was first) to homer from both sides of the plate during a game, the third time he accomplished the feat in his career, during a 12-6 win over the Reds at Cinergy Field. Also going deep for the Bucs were Brian Giles, Ed Sprague and Al Martin. Giles had three hits, three runs scored and three RBI in the Francisco Cordova win.

Dale Sveum – AP/PPG photo 4/19/1999 by A. Behrman

2002 – The Bucs took a 3-2 victory from the Brewers at PNC Park as Adam Hyzdu came up clutch with a two-out RBI single in the opening frame and the eventual game-winner, a solo shot in the fourth. Bronson Arroyo went five innings for his first win of the season, though it took five arms behind him to finally put it to bed. The last Bucco twirler was Mike Williams, who earned his 35th save, besting the former record of 34 held since 1988 by Jim Gott. Williams ended the campaign with 46 saves, a mark since passed only once, by Mark Melancon in 2015 with 51.
2005 – LHP Zach Duke ran his record to 6-0, taking a 5-0 decision at Shea Stadium against the Mets. Duke allowed two hits in seven frames while whiffing five and dropping his ERA to 1.87. His six-game winning streak was the longest by a Pirates rookie since Don Robinson won seven straight in 1978. A July call up, Zachster finished the year with 8-2/1.81 slash in 14 starts.
2007 – The 2-3-4-5 hitters for the Bucs (Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche) combined to go 10-for-17 with a homer, four doubles, three walks, six RBI and eight runs scored to lead Pittsburgh to an 11-6 romp over the Philadelphia Phillies at PNC Park. Paul Maholm was the recipient of the heart of the lineup’s largesse and took home the victory.
2015 – The Bucs won a game they tried hard to give away by a 9-8 count over Arizona at PNC Park. The Bucs were cruising along in the eighth with an 8-3 lead, built by Pedro Alvarez’s homer and some timely hitting, but a couple of walks let the D-Backs back in with three runs in that inning and then two errors in the ninth led to a pair of unearned runs (also ruining Mark Melancon’s 35-game streak of converted save opps) to tie the game. But the bullpen regained its mojo and behind scoreless three-inning stints turned in by Arquimedes Caminero and Joe Blanton, ground out the win. With two out in the 15th, Fran Cervelli singled and scored on Pedro Florimon’s triple off the Clemente Wall. Florimon was hitting under .100 coming into that at bat and had failed in a bunt try his last at-bat to become an unlikely hero. Blanton got the win; Cervy had four hits during the long (five hour plus) contest – and caught the next night.

Cervy – 2015 Topps Heritage

2019 – The Pirates traded a home game for the second time in three years for an appearance in the Little League Classic in Williamsport. The Bucs didn’t teach the 2,500 Little Leaguers and fans at Bowman Field, the home of the Class A Williamsport Crosscutters, much about how the game should be played, surrendering three homers in a 7-1 loss to the Cubs. But they displayed some big league sportsmanship, spending hours mixing with the small fry before the game, then went through a handshake line postgame.
2021 – Roberto Clemente became the sixth person honored with a statue at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, joining Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Derek Jeter. His 39-ounce, 35” Hillerich & Bradsby U1 Louisville Slugger bat was also added to the companies’ permanent “Hold a Piece of History” exhibit; before that, the war club had been shown as part of its Walk of Fame display since 2006.
2022 – Bryan Reynolds hit homers #2,999 and 3,000 in PNC Park history (numbers 19 and 20 on the year for B-Rey, with three bombs in the last two games), both two-run shots, to lead the Bucs to an 8-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. JT Brubaker came up with his strongest effort of the campaign, throwing seven innings of two-hit, shutout ball with seven whiffs. Ben Gamel drove in a pair of runs, with the other RBIs courtesy of Michael Chavis and Tyler Heineman. Kevin Newman added three knocks and crossed the dish three times while playing in the 400th game of his MLB career, all with Pittsburgh. The Pirates were due; they broke a six-game losing streak with the win.

Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/08/818-from-1970-b-rey-bops-zach-sveum-mad.html

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