Trivia Answers Thursday

I had a lot of fun participating in the live tweet of the 2013 Wild Card game replay on Tuesday night. The Pirates’ social media team got involved, there was much reminiscing and photo posting, AT&T SportsNet’s Rob Incmikoski smacked down a couple of trolls, and AJ Burnett and Jason Grilli popped in from time to time. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time at one go on Twitter, but I enjoyed it.

Now on to the answers!

“Twenty years of frustration dressed in black” refers to what event during the game?

A. Pirates fans booing Reds manager Dusty Baker B. Pirates fans cheering the National Anthem C. Pirates fans chanting Reds starter Johnny Cueto’s name D. Pirates fans mocking TBS color man Craig Sager

Answer: C

TBS analyst Ron Darling summed things up rather eloquently with this statement. And let’s be honest, an unnerved Cueto dropping the ball, then promptly dishing up a homer to Russell Martin is one of the best Pirates moments ever.

Speaking of Russell ...

Russell Martin hit two home runs in the game, making him the second Pirate to hit multiple homers in a postseason game. Who was the first?

A. Bob Robertson B. Dave Parker C. Roberto Clemente D. Dick Groat

Answer: A

Robertson hit three home runs in Game Two of the 1971 NLCS against the Giants. He added another in Game Three, and to this day has the third-most homers total in the NLCS behind Steve Garvey and Daniel Murphy.

Also, BD reader zogger52 hit me up with another piece of trivia: what Pirates catcher before Martin was the last to hit two home runs in a game? If Baseball Reference isn’t BSing me, that would be Ryan Doumit, who hit two off the Brewers’ Jeff Suppan on July twenty-second, 2009 at PNC.

Which Reds reliever did not pitch during the game?

A. J.J. Hoover B. Logan Ondrusek C. Tony Cingrani D. Sean Marshall

Answer: C

The Reds used seven pitchers that night. Throughout the 2013 season Cingrani had been used as both a starter and reliever, but Baseball Reference classifies him as a reliever that year.

How many Pirates got extra-base hits in the game?

A. Two B. Six C. Eight D. Four

Answer: D

In addition to Martin’s two bombs, Marlon Byrd homered (in his first-ever postseason plate appearance), and Starling Marte and Neil Walker each had doubles.

Before this game, how many times had the Pirates and Reds met in the postseason?

A. Ten B. Five C. Seven D. Three

Answer: B

All of the Pirates/Reds postseason meetings had been in the NLCS in 1970, 1972, 1975, 1979, and 1990. Fun fact: the 1990 NLCS was the only one in that decade that didn’t feature the Atlanta Braves.

Next week, we’ll look back at the defining Pirates postseason game—Game Seven of the 1960 World Series.