Pittsburgh Pirates 5 — New York Yankees 3
The Yankees could not complete the series and doubleheader sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
After a harmless first inning for starter Vidal Nuno, Gerrit Cole had some defensive assistance by a former Yankee. Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple, it seemed inevitable that the Yankees would score. That is, until former Yankee Chris Stewart picked Gardner off of third base from behind the plate.
In the second inning, Yangervis Solarte rushed a throw to first baseman Kelly Johnson for an error. With one on and one out, Solarte would throw to Brian Roberts at second base, who could not control the throw and was charged with the error putting two on with one out. After getting the second out, Chris Stewart made his presence felt one more time, hitting a single that scored the first run of the game.
Right fielder Jose Tabata was replaced due to a hamstring injury with Travis Snider and when you get brought in the game, the ball tends to find you. With one on and two outs, John Ryan Murphy hit a single to right field where Snider defended. Unfortunately for Snider, the ball rolled through his legs and all the way to the wall for an error. Runner Solarte would score from first base and Murphy would find himself on third for a huge error. With Murphy on third, Brendan Ryan would attempt the squeeze play and when pitcher Gerrit Cole fielded the ball, he made a very poor decision throwing it to first. He overthrew the first baseman and the error would move Ryan to second. two errors played a role in two runs scoring, all with two outs.
Nuno and Cole would settle down through most of the middle innings. In the sixth inning, Nuno gave up a single to Andrew McCutchen. With two outs, left fielder Starling Marte turned the one-run deficit into a one-run lead with a two-run home run. The Yankees would respond to Cole in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, Yangervis Solarte would get his second hit of the game, his fifth home run of the season to tie the game at 3.
Vidal Nuno was finished after six innings. In those six innings, Nuno allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves came in for relief.
With two outs, Josh Harrison breaks the tie with a home run to left field, just out of the reach of Zoilo Almonte. In the bottom half of the inning, Brett Gardner got a two-out single and Brian Roberts followed with a double to right field. Brett Gardner got the “stop” sign coming around third and he did not score. The hottest run producer on the team had his chance as Mark Teixeira came up with two in scoring position. Teixeira would pop out and the scoring opportunity went for nothing.
The Yankees had another chance to tie the game in the eighth. Against lefty Tony Watson, Derek Jeter got to pinch-hit and through a long at-bat, he singled to center field to be the potential tying run. Yangervis Solarte followed with a sharp line drive to left field where Josh Harrison defended and made a Superman-like dive to rob Solarte of a hit and likely a tying run batted in. The Pirates would put up one more run and the Yankees would go down in order to former Yankee reliever Mark Melancon in the ninth inning to lose the second game of the doubleheader.
Win – Gerrit Cole (4-3)
Loss – Alfredo Aceves (0-2)
Save – Mark Melancon (6)
Notables
Pirates
*Josh Harrison – 2 for 5, R, 2B, Solo Home Run (2) in the 7th, RBI (5)
*Starling Marte – 1 for 3, 2 R, 2-Run Home Run (4) in the 6th, 2 RBI (12)
Yankees
*Yangervis Solarte – 2 for 4, 2 R, Solo Home Run (5) in the 6th, RBI (24)
*Brendan Ryan – 1 for 3, RBI (1)
Current Yankees Record: 23-20
