NBC’s Mike Emrick calls Pittsburgh Pirates victory for MLB Network (Video)

Mike Emrick crossed an item off his bucket list Friday night when he called the Pittsburgh Pirates-Chicago Cubs game along with Bob Costas for MLB Network.

“It’s a wonderful gift when you consider that these games in the regular season, they belong to the professionals,” Emrick, a long-time Pirates fan, told NHL.com’s Jon Lane this week. “For [Costas] to share a night and allow me to live a lifelong dream on a national network, that’s pretty impressive. To be alongside him is going to be special. You just want to do your best job that you possibly can and be entertaining.

Emrick worked two innings on radio in March during a Pirates Spring Training game a few months after Costas had invited him to call a regular season game after watching an HBO “Real Sports” segment on the broadcasting legend.

The NBC play-by-play man got to show off his homerun call in the sixth inning when Cubs catcher Miguel Montero tied the game with a two-run shot.

Fortunately for Emrick, the Pirates would pull away with a four-run seventh inning en route to an 8-4 victory. The final out came when Mark Melancon fanned Willson Contreras, allowing “Doc” to let his fandom come out a bit on his game-ending call.

“Raise the Jolly Roger! Shoot off the fireworks. Arrr!”

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy