A decade ago today, on October 1, 2013, Buctober was taking the city by storm, and the Pirates played one of their most memorable games in franchise history.

After a 21 year drought, the Pirates had finally climbed back into the postseason, having clinched a spot in the 2013 playoffs in dramatic fashion.

PNC Park was packed to the brim with fans, both young and old, who were buzzing for the return of October baseball in Pittsburgh.

The 2013 Pirates boasted a plethora of young talent that was headlined by Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, and Gerrit Cole.

The city was alive for the franchise in a way they hadn’t been since the early 1990s as the Pirates hosted the divisional rival Cincinnati Reds at home in the 2013 NL Wild Card Game.

Francisco Liriano took to the mound for the Pirates, pitching 7.0 innings and allowing just 4 hits and 1 run, striking out 5 in the process.

After him, Tony Watson and Jason Grilli held down the fort, with the former allowing 1 run in the eighth inning, and the latter slamming the door in the ninth as the stadium erupted in celebration.

But the unforgettable moment on the mound didn’t come when a Pirate was pitching.

In the bottom of the second inning, Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto accidentally dropped the ball on the mound as 40,000+ fans tauntingly serenaded him with the now famous “Cueto” chant.

Then, on the very next pitch, Russell Martin smacked a solo shot deep into left field for a homer, giving the Bucs a 2-0 lead at the time.

A rattled Cueto would have a tough go in Pittsburgh that night, allowing 8 hits and 4 runs (including two homers) before the Reds took him out after just 3.1 innings pitched.

Though Cincinnati’s bullpen, with the exception of Sean Marshall, whose ERA that night was literally infinity (see for yourself if you don’t believe me) was able to mostly slow the Pirate attack, the majority of the damage had already been done, and the Pirates pitching staff had outdueled that of the Reds to tip the game Pittsburgh’s way.

But speaking of that Bucco offense, Russell Martin’s Hollywood-style home run overshadows some other notable highlights from that magical night.

Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Starling Marte, and Marlon Byrd all had multi hit performances that night. The Pirates totaled 14 hits in the game, including a single from the pitcher Liriano.

Marlon Byrd, a rental acquired from the New York Mets in late August of 2013, had the other Pirate homer in the game. Byrd’s home run actually came first, shooting one into the stands two batters before Russell Martin did.

McCutchen, the 2013 National League MVP, had two hits and earned two walks as well in the game, helping etch him as the face of the revival of baseball in Pittsburgh.

The glorious night in the Steel City stood as a beacon to fans who had sat through two decades of bad baseball. And that 2013 run would help create a whole new generation of fans who for the first time really saw their team do anything successful.

The Pirates would go on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Divisional Series, battling in spirited fashion in an effort that would come up just short.

Pittsburgh recovered from an ugly 9-1 loss in Game 1 to win Games 2 and 3, but could not find that elusive third win as St. Louis stormed back and ripped the series out of the Pirates’ hands.

Pittsburgh’s best chance to win the series came in Game 4, when they narrowly lost 2-1. They lost the deciding Game 5 in a much farther 6-1 defeat.

The 2013 run would be the catalyst for a three year period wher ethe Pirates made the postseason. Tragically, however, the Pirates would never get past the Wild Card Game again, losing to the San Francisco Giants in 2014 and the Chicago Cubs in 2015.

To this day, even ten years later, the 2013 NL Wild Card Game will still hold a rightful spot as one of the best nights in Pirates history, and a night that not only will forever live on to those in the stands, but to every fan who watched/heard the magic that Buctober was.

(Featured photo by Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports)