Bruce Kison, who helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series in 1971, his rookie year, in an outstanding extended relief appearance during the first night game in Series history, died on Saturday in a hospice facility in Bradenton, Fla. He was 68.

His wife, Anna Marie Kison, said he learned he had renal cancer on Feb. 14.

Kison, who had been called up to the majors that summer, won Game 4 of the ’71 Series with six and a third scoreless innings of one-hit relief against the Baltimore Orioles, allowing just a bloop double to Paul Blair. The Pirates won the Series in seven games.

That game, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, inaugurated a new era for Major League Baseball; regular-season games had been played under the lights for decades, but not World Series games. Today, Series games are held entirely at night.

When the Pirates met the Orioles again in the 1979 World Series, Kison started the first game and lost, getting just one out and giving up five runs before he was removed after a nightmare of an outing on a cold night. But the Pirates went on to win the Series, again in seven games.