A Look Back at the Pittsburgh Pirates Last Three Memorial Days

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the other 29 teams are still trying to figure out when and how they will play baseball this year.  Let’s look back at the past few Memorial Days.

One of the more iconic days of the Major League Baseball season is Memorial Day.  It is the second National Holiday (Mother’s Day) to occur during the season and carries a theme of National unity across the league.  To say the least, it is weird to not have baseball on the radio or tv while cooking out with family.  Today, the Pittsburgh Pirates would have been completing their series against the San Francisco Giants.

With that being said, it seems appropriate to look back at the last few Memorial Days and see how the Pittsburgh Pirates were fairing on this Holiday.  We will take a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates record at the time, the pitching line, and notable offensive performances.  Let’s start with Memorial Day 2017.

The Pittsburgh Pirates started a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 29th, 2017.  At the time the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to get things straightened out with the team boasting a record of 23-28.  Trevor Williams got the start and gave the team a quality start going six innings and only allowing one earned run.  The game was 3-1 heading into the ninth inning thanks to Chris Stewart‘s two RBIs along with Josh Bell‘s one.  Tony Watson, who was in the midst of proving he was not the team’s best closing option, blew the lead giving up two run jack to Chris Iannetta.  Luckily, Cutch happened as the outfielder hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

The next year was not as pleasant for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The team started a series in Chicago against the Cubs on May 28th, 2018.  Entering the series, the team was in a better spot owning a record of 28-24.  However, Cubs lefty Mike Montgomery treated Bucs fans to the classic left-hander game.  Montgomery stifled the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup for 5.2 innings and did not give up a run.  Meanwhile, he only allowed two base runners with Corey Dickerson and Sean Rodriguez making up for the team’s only two knocks.  Chad Kuhl‘s quality start of six innings and one earned run was wasted as the team was shut out 7-0.

Memorial Day of the 2019 season fell on May 27th, and at the time no one would have guessed that it would be both Neal Huntington and Clint Hurdle‘s final seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  This day provided extra baseball for fans as the Bucs started a series against the Reds and actually played a double-header.  The team’s split the games.  The Bucs won game one by a score of 8-5.  Nick Kingham got the start and gave up three runs over 4.2 innings of work.  In the seventh inning, Josh Bell hit his 17th home run of the season and then in the eighth inning Starling Marte added his sixth homer of the year.

Game two did not go as well for the Pirates.  The Bucs fell to the Reds by a score of 8-1.  Mitch Keller got the ball to make his big league debut and it was one to forget.  The team’s top pitching prospect gave up a six spot in the first inning but settled down over the final three innings of his day.  Josh Bell and Bryan Reynolds were both 2-4 with Jose Osuna making up for the team’s lone RBI.  With the loss, the Pirates saw their overall record fall to 26-26.