4/19 From 1970: Taveras-Foli, Game Tales - Wandy-ful, RJ B-Day Slam, Yo-yo Sweeps, Bonds POTW, Crash Landing; HBD Zach, Big Sweat & Joe
- 1977 – Joe Beimel was born in St. Mary’s in Elk County. The lefty from Duquesne University started his career in Pittsburgh (2001-03) and made another stop in 2012. He was 11-20 in his four campaigns with the Bucs, pitching to a 5.03 ERA. The Bucs released him after he had TJ surgery in 2012. Joe last pitched in the majors in 2015 and retired in 2017 after 13 MLB campaigns; he made an unsuccessful 2021 comeback with San Diego. And he pitched without a safety net – Beimel never had a contract that was for longer than one year.
- 1977 – LHP Denny “Big Sweat” Reyes was born in Higuera de Zaragoza, Mexico. Denny spent 15 years in the majors with 12 very forgettable outings as a Pirate in 2003, when he gave up a dozen runs in 10+ innings. The Bucs waived him in May and he bounced around until catching a second wind in 2006 with the Twins; he put up five solid seasons with them and the Cards before tossing his last outing in 2011 for the Red Sox. As for his nickname – at 6’3” and 250 pounds, Denny worked up plenty of big sweats while tending to his job on the hill.
- 1979 – The Mets traded Tim Foli and minor league prospect Greg Field to the Pirates in exchange for SS Frank Taveras. Foli solidified the infield for the eventual World Champs, batting .291 and appearing in 133 games. He stayed with the Bucs through 1981, went to the AL for three seasons and spent his last year as a Pirate in 1985. Frank was solid offensively through 1980, and in three years with the Mets hit .253 with 90 swipes before closing it out in 1982 with the Expos.
- 1983 – LHP Zach Duke was born in Clifton, Texas. He spent the first six years of his career in Pittsburgh and put up a line of 49-75/4.99. Called up in July of 2005 after being named the Bucco Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2004, he went 8-2/1.81, but never posted an ERA south of four afterwards as a Pirate, leaving the club after the 2010 season. Zachster had TJ surgery in 2017, coming back in late July to work for the Cards. He last pitched in 2019 and became a co-founder of Framework Athletics, a baseball/softball training academy located in Nashville.
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| RJ Reynolds – 1990 Leaf |
- 1986 – Happy birthday to me! Leadoff hitter RJ Reynolds celebrated his 27th birthday with a grand slam off Chicago’s Scott Sanderson in the fourth inning at Wrigley Field during a 14-8 Pirates win. The game featured six home runs (three by each team) and 28 hits (14 by each team).
- 1988 – The Pirates announced that OF Barry Bonds won the NL Player of the Week award. BB batted 7-of-23, and four of those hits left the yard. He was tied for the league lead in homers, triples and home runs while holding down the fifth spot in batting average race with a .354 BA.
- 1991 – The Pirates took a 3-0 lead into the ninth against Chicago at TRS behind one-hit pitching by Vincente Palacios, Bob Patterson & Stan Belinda and a two-run Andy Van Slyke bomb and sac fly, but it went by the wayside in a hurry. Belinda went an inning too long, giving up a hit, walk and beaning before allowing a pinch-hit grand salami to Andre Dawson. But Pittsburgh had a rally left in them; old Cubbie Curtis Wilkerson and Gary Redus opened with back-to-back singles. A wild pitch tied it and a couple of batters later, Jeff King dumped a single off the end of his bat into center for the game winner. King and Don Slaught had a pair of hits and Belinda, despite having his cage rattled in the ninth, got the victory to snap a six-game win streak by the Cubs.
- 1999 – Leadoff batter Jason Kendall had two singles, stole three bases and scored twice as the Bucs blanked San Diego, 3-0, at Qualcomm Stadium. Five Pirates pitchers spun a five-hit shutout as starter Pete Schourek picked up his first win of the season while Jason Christiansen recorded his first save of the year. People sometimes forget how good a runner Kendall was, even as a catcher. He was injured on July 4th and lost for the rest of the campaign, but up to that point he had swiped 22 sacks in 25 tries in 78 games and batted leadoff in 15 of the outings.
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| Jason Kendall – 1999 Pacific Omega |
- 2013 – Wandy Rodriguez tossed seven innings of one-hit ball as the Bucs beat the NL-leading Atlanta Braves, 6-0, at PNC Park in front of 18,705 Friday night fans. The Bravos ended up with two hits, with both runners erased on DP balls. There were no walks or errors, allowing the three Pirate hurlers (Wandy, Mark Melancon and Vin Mazzaro) to face the minimum 27 batters.
- 2017 – The Pirates were swept by the St Louis Cardinals in a three-game set at Busch Stadium by identical 2-1 scores. It was the first time since 1888 that the Pirates (then the Alleghenys) had given up six or fewer runs in a three-game series and lost all three times (1-0, 1-0, 2-0, v the Philadelphia Quakers). The hard-luck losers were Ivan Nova, Chad Kuhl and Gerrit Cole. It also continued an odd pattern of sweeps in April – the Pirates were swept by Boston, took three from Atlanta, were swept by Cincinnati, won a three-gamer against the Cubs and were broomed by the Redbirds. Bucco historian John Dreker of Pirates Prospects noted that the 1890 Pirates/Alleghenys were involved in six straight sweeps from Aug 13th-Sept 2nd. Technically, that streak reached eight sweeps if you count a series that was just one game due to bad weather.
- 2019 – Ouch: SS Erik Gonzalez and CF Starling Marte crashed into one another chasing down a Texas Leaguer during the Pirates 4-1 win over the Giants at PNC Park. Gonzo broke his collarbone, went on the 60-day IL and was out until August; Starling bruised his abdominal wall and went on the 10-day list. That meant the Pirates top two SS’s (Gonzalez and Kevin Newman) were on the IL and their top four outfielders (Marte joined Gregory Polanco, Corey Dickerson & Lonnie Chisenhall) were out of action. To boot, starting second baseman Adam Frazier was out with back spasms. Despite being battered and bloody, the Pirates were on a four-game winning streak and at 11-6 were off to the best start of anyone in the NL as the “next man up” process was working just fine. But the club quickly lost energy and finished the campaign with a 69-93 mark.
Source: https://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2025/04/419-from-1970-taveras-foli-game-tales.html
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