Of all the lows the two decades prior had brought, September of 2012 was one of the more soul-crushing months in the Pirates' recent history.
For most of the summer, they were in contention with the Reds for the National League Central Division and looked poised to end a 19-year-long streak of consecutive losing seasons. They started to cool in August, but entered the final month still very much in reach of a playoff berth, or at least of ending the streak. But by the time Roberto Clemente Day rolled around Sept. 18, the playoff dreams were all but officially snuffed out, and the team was free falling towards another losing season.
Plenty was said and written at the time about the second straight collapse and the immediate future of the organization. For Clint Hurdle, it was Vera Clemente, Roberto's widow, who delivered the real gut punch to the Pirates' manager. With all parties present pregame before the Clemente Day ceremonies, Vera had her sons, Roberto Clemente Jr. and Luis, translate a message about the meaning of her late husband's number.
"We cannot have 21 losing seasons because Roberto can't stand for that."
"Let me tell you something," Hurdle said, "it’s the most significant Sept. 18 I’ve ever had in my life. I think most of the blood drained out of my face.”
It would turn out Vera's fears were justified. The September collapse would continue and the Pirates would finish under .500 for a 20th consecutive season. It was the longest streak in North American sports history, and the defining stat of the last two decades of Pittsburgh baseball.
"You know about it, but you don't really know about it," A.J. Burnett said.
“I tried to research," Hurdle said. "I tried to get a feel for it. I talked to people from Pittsburgh. I talked to yinzers. I wanted to know what I was getting into. Eighteen consecutive losing seasons. The longest streak in North American sports. They shared with me. I want to be aware of it. I didn’t want to shrug it off, you know, because they were wearing it. But after adding two more numbers to get that to 20, it felt a lot more real. I felt the angst.”
The streak would stop there, though. The 2013 Pirates would end up being one of the greatest non-championship seasons in Pittsburgh sports history, as fans poured decades of pent up love into the ballclub and the team elevated itself to one of the best in the sport.
To get the story of that team, DK Pittsburgh Sports conducted over a dozen one-on-one interviews with players and members of the organization to talk about ending the streak, the family atmosphere and, of course, the National League Wild Card game against the Reds, the greatest game in PNC Park's history.
“It felt like everything I ever wanted for our team, we were doing it," Andrew McCutchen said about that season. "Right in front of us. All the planning, all the thoughts, it was all happening.”
“We weren’t going to allow ourselves to be tied to past history," Hurdle said. "We wanted to create history.”
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Fans fill the stands during the 2013 Wild Card game.
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BUILDING A TEAM
After falling just short, it was clear that the Pirates were going to have to add to the team to get them over the hump and become a contender. The free agent haul would wind up being defined by three players: Re-signing Jason Grilli to be the closer and adding catcher Russell Martin and left-hander Francisco Liriano.
Jason Grilli (closer): “I was a free agent. I had the Cubs, LA and Toronto [interested in me], which is my childhood favorite team growing up because I grew up in Syracuse when their Triple-A team was there. My dad finished his career there. I had a chance to go there, and when I get there in the winter meetings, there’s a disparagingly big difference in the room of how those teams operated to Pittsburgh, who welcomed me with a huge suite with a potato chip bowl and a brand new three-pack of yellow notebook paper that was ripped open to negotiate. I looked at my agent, Gary Sheffield at the time, and he goes, ‘you’re sure you want to stay here?’ And I said, ‘yep. I do. I really do.’ ”
Russell Martin (catcher): “It felt like a good fit for me. Going from a place where the catcher before me was more offensive [Jorge Posada] and didn’t have the best defensive talent. He was an offensive catcher type of guy. Me, my strength has always been more my defense, and it just felt like that was the key. And that’s what the front office thought, too.”
“I just knew it wasn’t my best season, and I didn’t want a four- or five-year deal coming off of that season. I thought the two years that Pittsburgh was offering was a good fit.”
Michael McKenry (catcher): “Winning. It’s what he brought. There’s nothing Russ did that he didn’t want to win in.”
Garrett Jones (first baseman/outfielder): “I don’t think they realized the impact he [Martin] came with. A good team leader. Phenomenal athlete, some timely hitting. He did it all. To have a staple like that behind the plate and to control A.J. Burnett and Francisco Liriano and call games, I think he was one of the key pieces that put us on the next level.”
Martin: “Pittsburgh has a lot of similarities with Montreal, where I’m from. Blue collar, cares about their sports. That resonated with me.”
A.J. Burnett (starting pitcher): “I was so glad when we picked Frankie up. I never met Frankie. I pitched against him a lot when he was with Minnesota and I was with New York. Just loved the way he competed. Loved the way he attacked guys. Strikeout guy. Obviously he’s left-handed, we pitched different, but we built a pretty good relationship out of the gate. He was one of the guys who could talk to me during the game and vice-versa. He was a big pickup. We needed that kind of guy. We knew we had [Gerrit] Cole coming up, obviously, we needed to fill one.”
Hurdle: “He [Liriano] had a flair to compete and a deep intense desire to compete, so to get him to buy in as well. It’s the offseason. You’ve got to romance him a little bit. You’ve got to talk to him. Obviously money is a big indicator of how much you care, but you’ve got to lay out the pitching program, what we were going to offer and what we could supply and help him with. When he said yes, he went to work.”
Burnett: “We brought in a handful of guys, and every one of them fit in perfectly.”
Hurdle: “I think all three were huge pieces to the jigsaw puzzle that we didn’t have the previous season. We needed each one of them dramatically.”
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HIGHER EXPECTATIONS
The Pirates held first place in the Central deep into the 2011 and 2012 seasons, but ultimately fell short. As a result, the team was shooting for more than just a winning record in 2013.
Hurdle: "I think there were lessons learned in both years, but more so in the 2012 year. When I joined in 2011, it was a small group of guys that had been together and it had been hard for a couple years. Back-to-back seasons where they lost I think over 100 games. And we had gotten off to a pretty good start in both of the years. In ‘12 we got off to a good start, and whether it was a lack of depth, whether it was just playing more meaningful games later and figuring out how all that takes place, the requirements that you need to meet the demands of the game, I think we learned a lot of lessons in the second half ‘12... After ‘11, after ‘12, and for some of the guys who were there for ‘09 and ‘10, enough is enough.”
Greg Brown (broadcaster): “That collapse [in 2012] was epic. Nobody would have dreamed they would collapse like that.”
Jones: “Every spring training, you talk about it. Haven’t made the playoffs. This is the year. You go through the spiel. The Pirates built that reputation, unfortunately, of guys getting close and then get traded away.”
Jordy Mercer (shortstop): “I remember the mindset in spring training was different. We experienced it, and now it’s time to go get it.”
Gerrit Cole (right-handed pitcher): “It was an organizational mantra. We were going to stop the losing. That’s what the goal was.”
Hurdle: “Playing .500 for that ‘13 group was never a mantra or put on a shirt or something that was talked about a lot. You were enough about it in the community and the media and social media you were aware of it, but their plans – and my belief and the team’s belief – were much bigger than that.”
Travis Snider (outfielder): “When I joined the team in 2012, I think we were in first place… I could sense that there’s a lot of emotion tied into the organization. When things didn’t work out in 2012, it became very apparent to me what the fanbase and the city had experienced with their baseball team for the last couple of decades.”
Jones: “There was a different feeling in the air, walking into the clubhouse in spring training at the start of the season. Like, there’s no messing around here. There’s no, ‘Hopefully we do well.’ No, we’re gonna do well.”
Neil Walker (second baseman): “I was drafted in 2004, I was very aware of what the early 90s to that point looked like. Was very much in my head, ‘wow, if I could be part of a winner, that would be the greatest thing ever for me as far as being a Pittsburgher.' ... That 2013 season, in spring training, we really looked around like, holy s—, we’ve got some really good players.”
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THE SHARK TANK
Perhaps the greatest strength of the team was their bullpen. While the team traded away All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan, they had a closer in waiting in Grilli, as well as other young pitchers in the making, like Tony Watson, Justin Wilson, Jared Hughes, Vin Mazzaro and Bryan Morris. They also got back future All-Star closer Mark Melancon in the Hanrahan trade, and his tale of swimming with sharks was the origin of the group's nickname: The Shark Tank.
Grilli: “All right, let’s get bit then. Let’s draw some blood. Get one strikeout an inning!”
For Melancon, his breakout started during a bullpen session with Martin.
Martin: “One day, I’m catching him and he’s throwing the cutter. And I’m like, ‘damn!’ I’m coming off of catching Mariano Rivera. Like, this is a similar action on the cutter that Mariano has. I’ve never seen anybody else have that… I’m like, ‘you are for sure under-utilizing this pitch.’ ”
Behind a backend duo of Melancon and Grilli and solid middle relief from a group of youngsters, the Pirates would go on to win 54 games by either one or two runs.
Walker: “The amount of one-run games we won was astronomical. A huge, huge piece to this group. Took a lot of stress off of us trying to stretch the score extra runs late in the game. If we had a one- or two-run lead late in games, we felt very confident.”
McKenry: “The No. 1 thing is they all wanted the ball. In today’s game, with all the analytics and how far they played catch, who many throws they make, there is a missing piece of a dude who just wants the ball every day. Figure it out.”
Hurdle: "The year you're having is always the best year you’re having in that vacuum, but now that I look back, we may have had more dynamic of things or people or stuff, but as a collective group, [that bullpen was] arguably the best group that I’ve ever been able to watch perform over the course of a season. They were so in tune with one another. There were some defined roles. There were some swing guys. There were guys that took the ball and pitched innings when we needed them that may not have been the most competitive innings. Everyone was unselfish out there. The goal was to get the ball to the backend guy. Grilli took that opportunity and ran with it.”
Grilli: “We knew we were good. Like, ‘listen, m—--f—--ers, one strikeout an inning or don’t come back down here.’ You’ve got one out to get. We’ve got a good defense, use it, but you better get bit.' ”
Grilli: “I also had a one-drink minimum. I made sure everyone came out. If you come out, come out. I don’t care if it’s water with lemon. But show up. Just meet up. Make the team hangout."
Burnett: “The bullpen always went out to dinner. They were very tight.”
Grilli: "I remember Petey [Pedro] Alvarez saying, ‘This is so great!’ This is what you do, man. This is what it’s supposed to be like. If you have a good team and you genuinely like each other, you should hang out, not go out to our rooms and hide out.”
Burnett: “They bonded. They all bought in on this tank. They knew what their jobs were. And they had a short memory, which is good for a bullpen.”
Hurdle: “We shortened the games. We felt like if we had the lead after five – and if not after five, after six – we felt really good about winning the game.”
The bullpen would go on to combine for a 2.89 staff ERA and produce a pair of first-time All-Stars, Grilli and Melancon. Grilli converted 33 of his 35 save opportunities, and Melancon picked up 16 saves with a 1.39 ERA.
Grilli: "I’m like, ‘I’m going to make this All-Star team one f—ing time in my career, and this is the year I want to do it.’ I was driven, man.”
Hurdle: “The season he had in ‘13 was probably as much fun a team about rallying around a guy. His makeup, his character, his buy-in to the fanbase and the city and the shark tank. It was really cool to watch.”
Grilli: “The All-Star announcement was the best memory for me. You know why? Because most of our dads were with us in Chicago. We were on the road, our dads were able to come if they wanted to. Father-son weekend. In and out of Chicago, just a three-day stint, and guys got to do what they wanted. If they want to do BP, they can come out on the field. They want to sit in the dugout, up until gametime, and then they go in the stands. I just remember a moment with my dad, a Field of Dreams moment that I’ll never forget, one of the top things of my career. We were going in, didn’t say anything. I was hopeful because I wanted it so bad to be named to that team. I was like, ‘we’ve got a lot of guys that deserve to go.’ And when they announced how many guys were going, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is insane.’ I felt like there were more guys that should have gone too. I remember running out to our dads. I remember sitting there, crying with my dad and then we had a catch out in the ivy. Real 'Field of Dreams' moment.”
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PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Andrew McCutchen walks down the line during introductions for the 2013 Wild Card game at PNC Park.
THE NEXT STEP
As the Pirates climbed toward the top of the National League, it became clear that McCutchen and Burnett were emerging as the faces of the offense and rotation. McCutchen elevated his game to win the Most Valuable Player award, while Burnett became the ace.
McKenry: “In ‘11, he [McCutchen] signs that huge contract, and you can see the sails go up as soon as he signed that, coming into spring training.”
Hurdle: “It was a guy that said, ‘OK, I’m going to own things up here. I can bring things here, and I’m going to bring it every day.’ The opportunity to play center field. The opportunity to play it more like a free safety than a cornerback. Play both gaps, play to the wall. The excitement on the bases. All of it. It was his coming out party, as well.”
Snider: “He had fun doing it. That’s one of the things I loved about Cutch. You look at each other in the outfield and he’d make some stupid face at you or some kind of hand sign and we laughed. Just kept it light. It’s why he was able to sustain that success and go out there and play the game instead of putting all the external pressure on himself to be the best player in the league, even though he was.”
Walker: “You could tell he was on a mission. His focus was on finding a way to not only carry us offensively if he had to, but really just taking his game to a borderline All-Star to being a perennial MVP. It didn’t surprise me, but it was at the right time. There were times where we knew he was just going to carry us. We just had to do our job.”
Brown: “McCutchen was a one-man wrecking crew.”
McCutchen: “It was a great team to be a part of. It was a great club. We meshed really well. I honestly felt like if we could have beat the Cardinals, we would have been in the World Series.”
Burnett: “[When I became a Pirate]I knew they had Cutch and some young arms and some guys that could play. It was a young team, but they weren’t competing the way they should have, I thought. I wasn’t competing the way I would like where I was at. It was actually a perfect move for my career, in my opinion, and a good move to bring me into that group with those kids. I went with open arms, man. There was no, ‘I’m going from New York to Pittsburgh.’ It was my time to find me and do whatever I could do to help this team grow.”
Martin: “He’s [Burnett] going to hold you accountable. No excuses are going to be made.”
Walker: “We knew with A.J. we were getting stability. We were getting innings. We were getting that guy who could go out there and post and dominate at times.”
Brown: “I think you’ve got to have someone that’s, for lack of a better word, a jerk. Because in that, winning is a priority, and he’s going to police the clubhouse to make sure nothing else matters.”
Burnett: “The city accepted me. They didn’t have to. I was coming from New York. They didn’t know what they were getting. It had been a tough couple years my last couple years there. But they saw what I was bringing, they accepted it and they loved it.”
On June 11, the rotation got another boost when Cole, the No. 1 overall draft pick two years prior, made his major-league debut. He pitched into the seventh inning and led the Pirates to a win over the defending champion Giants.
Walker: “That was as highly anticipated a debut that I’ve been a part of … I was part of the [Stephen] Strasburg game on the other side of things. I think it was something that rivaled that.”
Hurdle: "It was electric. It was hyped. It was something everyone had hopefully anticipated, and obviously he didn’t disappoint.”
Martin: “You knew the kid was going to be elite when he first came up.”
Brown: “Over the years, I still haven’t learned I’ve got to try and slow down a little bit. Pace myself. To this day I still haven’t learned it, because I remember, vividly, starting to lose my voice. We got in from a road trip at a decent hour. The bus gets in at a decent hour, and I learned that Cole was going to make his start the next day and found out where he was staying. I texted him and went to the hotel. Cole was nice enough to come down to the lobby. I remember fighting through that interview the night before he made his major-league debut.”
Burnett: “He was ready to go. He was ready in spring training to break with us. He had it upstairs. He knew how good he was, but willing to learn as well. He was on me all the time with the curveball. Watching me like a hawk on my days.”
Jones: “We knew he had a great arm, great stuff, but I think the thing that stood out to us was his maturity on the mound, already at a young age. He was, what, 22 or 23 when he got called up? He had a maturity about him that you don’t see.”
Walker: “If we had those three guys going into a series [Burnett, Cole, Liriano], we felt pretty confident we were going to win two of three.”
With impact players in place, the Pirates set off to compete for a playoff spot for a third straight year. It looked like they had improved from their previous failed runs, and this time, they didn't falter late in the season.
Brown: “It seems like things just fall into place. The unexpected. The out of nowhere heroes. The comebacks. Contributions from everyone. When that starts to happen on a fairly regular basis, it’s almost like it’s our year. They’re not going to be denied.”
Cole: “We had to work harder than other teams, big-market teams.”
Hurdle: “It got to be cool that summer, it was almost like we were the Oakland Raiders of the East because of the costumes showing up at the ballpark. The Pirates, the swag, the Jolly Rogers. That’s an incredible vibe.”
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ADDING ON
While the Pirates were in the heat of a playoff push at the trade deadline in 2012, the Pirates were relatively quiet compared to other contenders and did not add the veteran players many expected. Those veteran voices were missing as the team collapsed in the final months of the season.
They did not make the same mistake in 2013, and they traded for outfielder Marlon Byrd and first baseman Justin Morneau before the August waiver deadline.
Burnett: “It impacted us because they just did it this time.We were in pretty much all the time in ‘12. I think they learned from that and brought in the right guys at the right time.”
Justin Morneau (first baseman): “Not like I really had a choice, but it was presented that I could go to Baltimore or I could go to Pittsburgh. I picked Pittsburgh because of everything that was going on there, to see the excitement around the team, it reminded me of our young Twins teams where you’re winning for the first time and going through everything. Trying to figure it out, go to the playoffs. The guys made me feel at home. It was a special environment.”
Martin: “It helps. Seeing his name in the lineup, him in the clubhouse. Same with Byrd. We’re getting an extra power bat from the right side, an extra power bat from the left side. Veteran presence. Guys with grit. That team was built on grit. We were a tough, resilient team. Then you add two guys that just fit perfectly in that mix. It was just awesome.”
Snider: “[Morneau is] one of my favorite teammates of all-time. Good ol’ Canadian boy that likes to have fun with the boys and talk a little trash. Keep things loose.”
Walker: “Both of those guys were not only influential in the lineup on a day-to-day basis, but in the clubhouse. They had been there. They had slow heartbeats. They could be trusted in big moments. When we added those guys, we really felt like it was a nice boost. We knew we had a good thing going and that adding those guys was just going to help everybody.”
Morneau: “There was something about Pittsburgh that just drew me to it.”
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A SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER
As the calander turned to September, the Pirates hit landmark wins that had elluded them for two decades. The first came on Sept. 3 when Snider, who was battling a left foot injury, came off the bench to deliver a go-ahead pinch-hit home run in the ninth to propel the Pirates to win No. 81 and end the losing season streak.
Snider: “I was ready to go. I knew that there was an opportunity to get an at-bat later in the game. I just remember having a seven, eight, nine pitch at-bat against Henderson. He was throwing fastballs. I felt like I was late on the fastball but was taking good swings. I was able to battle, got to a good count, caught a hanging breaking ball. I remember with the intensity, I knew the ball was out of the ballpark, but just sprinting around the bases [on my foot].”
On Sept. 23, the Pirates punched their ticket to the postseason by surviving a late scare against the Cubs. After Starling Marte gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead with a home run in the top of the ninth, Grilli was tasked with getting the save, but the team nearly blew it after Grilli gave up a hit to Ryan Sweeney that was misplayed by Byrd in right-center, and the runner on first. Nate Schierholtz, tried to score from first on the play.
Walker: "The emotions were so high. We knew what was at stake."
Grilli: "I threw up in my mouth. I left the pitch fat."
Martin: "It's like, 'Oh, man, did we mess this up?' "
What ensued was a relay and play at the plate that was the most iconic moment of their regular season, going from McCutchen on the recovery to the cutoff man Morneau to Martin for the collision, and out, at home.
Morneau: “I just drifted into the middle of the field, just in case. There wasn’t going to be a play at first after that. Somehow it ended up working out. Still have the image of Russ at the plate, fist up, looking to the sky.”
McKenry: “You look at ‘92 and the play at the plate being of significance in history. And Martin gets hit, holds up the ball. There was no out-safe call. We already knew.”
Grilli: "Russ Martin hung onto it. I'm like, 'Dude, I love you so much!' "
Martin: “Grilli’s giving me a hug. I’m just standing there with the ball up. Just, yes! What an incredible feeling it was.”
Hurdle: “It wasn’t a play you draw up on a chalkboard, like we’re gonna do it like this. We drew it up in the dirt.”
Grilli: “That was the team we had, man. It wasn’t any one person. And when I say we had a good group of guys, it was because we could pick each other’s a– up.”
For the first time since 1992, the Pirates were going to the postseason.
Hurdle: “That’s your goosebump moment. 'Why you do it' moment. That’s the boy in the backyard, playing at five, thinking about getting to the World Series.”
McKenry: “It’s so intimate. There we are, celebrating in the smallest clubhouse in baseball history, and we could care less.”
Morneau: “I remember we got back off the road from Chicago and they had the billboard of him making the play. It was a really special moment. Sometimes you just find yourself at the right place at the right time.”
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THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Leading up to their first playoff game in 20 years, players could feel the energy before their do-or-die Wild Card game with the Reds on Oct. 1.
Brown: "It was like Christmas Day. Couldn't sleep the night before."
Grilli: “I lived down in the Cork Factory in the Strip, where the heartbeat of the city really is. I remember looking out, and I had this panoramic view of the city right along the river, and I looked out and the city was just dead. It was quiet. I told everyone in my camp that came to watch it, ‘The Cincinnati Reds have to play the city of Pittsburgh tonight. They’re not just playing the Pirates.’ ”
To add to the atmosphere, McCutchen and Burnett went to Twitter to call for fans to wear black.
McCutchen: “We wanted the fans to feel like they were a part of it, too, because they were just as much a part of it as we were. Trying to figure out a way for them to be involved for the game, with it being a one game playoff, first we had in 20 years.”
Burnett: "We were on the plane, enjoying time again as a group, talking about the playoffs. It was Fort who brought it up."
McCutchen: “It wasn’t my idea. It was actually Michael McKenry’s, his idea. If anybody knows Michael, his brain is always going.”
McKenry: "A group of teammates and wives were out to eat and we were talking about our best college game day experiences. Brandon Cumpton's wife, Jennifer, cheered at [the] University of Georgia and mentioned how great their blackout games were. That sparked the idea! It felt like something I could spearheard since being hurt and not able to play during the playoffs was tough. This felt like a way to make an impact."
Burnett: “I love black. Can’t stand the grays. Nobody wants to see you sweat under your armpits and your butt and all that crap. It’s gross uniforms. Not just Pittsburgh, but in general. But I enjoyed the black. One of my favorite colors. Definitely was Fort [who had the idea], and Cutch and I tweeted it out.”
McCutchen: “Since I had the biggest following on Twitter at the time, I should say something about it. I was kind of skeptical at first, thinking some people would do it, some people wouldn’t know to do it. So I was under the impression of if we can get three-quarters of the stadium to do it, it would be pretty cool. I tweeted out, it caught wind, people were talking about it.”
Brown: "It was like someone threw honey on an ant hill."
Burnett: "If Cutch told 'em to paint the rows yellow, they'd be yellow tomorrow."
The fans listened to their captains and created the first "blackout" in the stadium's history, as well as one of the craziest environments for a playoff game.
Brown: “I’ll never forget the sea of humanity, at least a couple hours before the gates even opened, just jamming the street. Federal and General Robinson. Around the hotels, and then the Clemente Bridge. I finally looked down at the home plate entrance, and it was all black.”
McKenry: "It’s like someone put every bit of color in the world away for a minute and it was black."
McKenry: "The city of Pittsburgh truly made a dream a reality by embracing the idea and showing out."
Mercer: "We knew it was going to be crazy. We had no idea it was to be like that. People were jumping off of bridges."
Walker: “We’re all sitting in the clubhouse before the game, and 30 minutes before the game it’s pretty quiet in the clubhouse. But we can actually hear the crowd. The clubhouse was kind of shaking a little bit. We were like, ‘What the hell is that?’ You look out to go out and stretch and throw, and there wasn’t a seat not occupied.”
Mercer: “I remember the hair on my neck was standing up. I was like, ‘What is this? This is unbelievable.’ Obviously we played well, won the game, and it’s like, ‘Is this what it’s about? In Pittsburgh, this is what it’s about? We’ve got to do this more often!’ ”
Snider: “You could cut through the air with a butter knife. The energy was so thick. And everyone was there to take out 20 years of frustration on the other team.”
Hurdle: “The noise outside the stadium was so loud and then it started to trickle inside the stadium. It gave our city a chance to show off, our park a chance to show off and our fanbase a chance to show off. And they did. From noon until the end of the game. Honestly, a few hours after.”
Brown: “I started crying. I was emotional, because I had always believed, my entire life, that Pittsburgh is as good a baseball town as any in the country. I always believed it.”
Morneau: "It was like 20 years of losing seasons pent up."
As first pitch neared, McCutchen's mother, Petrina, sang the National Anthem, and all the players got a long standing ovation as they lined up for introductions.
McCutchen: "She always got to watch me on center stage shine and perform. I could only imagine how proud it makes her feel. I got a little glimpse of it watching her do something she’s done since she was a child, which is sing.”
Grilli: “When McCutchen’s mom sang the anthem, I was like, ‘Oh, s—, now the vibe is even higher.’ ”
McKenry: “I had tears rolling down my face. I knew this was probably my last year with Pittsburgh. My chances of coming back were really slim, being an arbitration-eligible guy. It meant the world to me to walk out to that line and the fans went ballistic. And they kept going ballistic. I was the only guy who couldn’t run out to the line [because of a knee injury]. They let it go the entire time until I got set, and I’ll never forget that. I’ll be forever grateful. Made me feel like I’m even more a part of this city. It’s a big reason why I came back.”
McCutchen: "I remember looking at everybody like, 'Yeah, we won already, guys.' "
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GETTY
Russell Martin rounds the bases after his second inning homer in the 2013 Wild Card game.
THE GAME
An elimination game between two division rivals was going to have plenty of drama regardless, but the Reds had Johnny Cueto on the mound, who had a terrific track record against the Pirates.
Burnett: "That dude dealt against us forever. Like, dealt. In our house, too. They use to come here and beat us."
However, Cueto didn't seem to be quite on his game. Byrd opened the scoring with a solo shot in the second inning, and what followed was the greatest sequence of the season.
Martin: “Byrd set the tone. Took some pressure off, got the crowd going. It may have impacted Cueto a little bit.”
McKenry: “You could see his anxiety rising as the game was going on. Pacing around the mound, that’s not like him. He owned us. I’m in hyper mode watching this dude. He’s sweating a little, he doesn’t look the same. That calm Cueto look is gone. Then you start to hear that chant. My heart started beating faster and faster.”
As the fans chanted "Cue-to! Cue-to!" the Reds pitcher dropped the baseball, causing the already frenzied crowd to near its apex:
Burnett: “You could almost predict it was going to happen. He was really fidgety on the mound, anyway. It was hand to the forehead, to the jersey, flipping the ball up and catching it. He’s very fidgety, anyway, and the crowd was on him all game.”
Cole: "Nobody in that park missed him dropping the ball ... There were 39,000 people up his rear end."
Burnett: "We knew we had him when the ball fell. Like, he's done. He's done."
Martin: “The crowd feels like they're the ones who got him to do it. At that point, even if it wasn’t the crowd, now he hears the crowd even more.”
Burnett: “That goes back to Russell. There are some hitters who get caught up in that. Hitters who see that and go to the dugout or take their focus off their job. It would be easy to get caught up to what was going on in that stadium. But if you watch a replay, Russ’ eyes are on him the entire time.”
Martin: “I stepped out of the box, took a deep breath. It looks funny. What it did was relax me. It’s just a game. People are having a good time. As he got back on the mound, it’s like, 'This is it. Just get your pitch.' ”
Burnett: "Russ knew he had him."
Brown: "After all these years, I still haven't learned my lesson ... "
Grilli: “Either I said it or someone said it or we were all thinking it, but if he goes deep here, this place is going to go upside down."
Brown: “I do believe, and you can’t convince me otherwise, to try to quiet the crowd down, Cueto was going to try to sneak a fastball by him.”
Martin swung at the next pitch and sent it over the left-center wall to extend the Pirates' lead and capture the momentum for good.
Martin: “When I first hit it, I didn’t feel like I got enough of it. I feel like I hit that ball on that part of the bat in batting practice a ton of times and it’s warning track. But I think because of all the adrenaline and all the vibrations going on in the crowd, it just carried 15-20 feet further. And when I see it travel over the seats, I’m like, ‘Let’s go!’ ”
Burnett: "That was the best thing I've ever seen in a game. ... It had to be a next-pitch homer. Couldn't write it a better way. That's baseball for you, man."
Hurdle: "It made for great theater."
McCutchen: "My ears probably rung for the next 24 hours after that."
Martin: “If they don’t chant his name and he doesn’t drop that ball, that home run doesn’t mean anything. I hit the home run, but the fans were the ones who created that moment.”
The game was still far from over, though, and Liriano, who was starting for the Pirates, was battling the flu, something only a few teammates knew about.
Grilli: “I didn’t, but that’s what I loved about Frankie. It didn’t matter if it was a good game, bad game. His composure and how he kept things together was unbelievable.”
Jones: "Something rings a bell of seeing his eyes watering. Like, 'Hey, you all right?' "
Cole: "I think he was just nervous. I was sick, too. I was throwing up before Game 2 of the D.S.! [Division Series]."
Hurdle: “What do you do? You trust your players. He got us that far, and there wasn’t anything that was going to be changed or done unless he came to us or something happened on the mound where he was so visibly shaken. You give a man a chance to be great and go do what he wants to do. His belly may not have been working with him, but his arm was.”
Liriano delivered a seven-inning gem, and the Melancon-Grilli combo again came through to seal the win.
Grilli: “I felt like I could lift a semi truck over my head [entering the game]. I had the most adrenaline I ever had to control in my life.”
Brown: “[The one thing I planned out is] what if there’s a last out? Well, they advance to St. Louis. Well, there’s an old movie starring Judy Garland. They play the song on the organ in St. Louis every game, ‘Meet me in St. Louie, Louie.’ In the back of my mind, I’m like, 'OK, they’re going to go to St. Louis.' When that ground ball is hit to St. Louis, I’m like, ‘oh my God, they’re going to St. Louis.’ That’s what came to mind. ‘Meet me in St. Louie, Louie.’ ”
Grilli: “I still have the ball. Regardless of what anybody thinks, I have the ball … It’s in my case, happily with a picture of me and Russ Martin jumping around.”
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The journey didn't last much longer, though. The Pirates would go on to play the Cardinals, but ultimately fell in the deciding fifth game at Busch Stadium.
Cole: "F---ing David Freese hit that homer in Game 5. I love that guy, but man, that stunk."
That core would go on to play in two more Wild Card games, though they could not advance. But in 2013, the season was about the journey, not just the destination.
Grilli: "I knew we feel way short of where we might have gone, but we had a moment."
Jones: “Besides getting called up to the big leagues, that was probably the second-most emotion, satisfaction of accomplishment in my career.”
Martin: "The proudest part of it was getting the people of Pittsburgh to believe in their team again."
Cole: “I didn’t know how special that team was until the farther and farther I got away from it. I knew it was good. I knew it was special. I knew I had friends. I’ve been in three organizations now. I have friends from all three. Lifelong friends. But just being around the game more, it’s a rarity… we still all talk. There’s a deep bond.”
