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Series Recap
·4 min read

Series Recap: Yankees planked by Pirates

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For the first time since 2008, the New York Yankees traveled to the Steel City to play the Pittsburgh Pirates. The setting, picturesque. Memories of Murderers’ Row and Bill Mazeroski abound. Also, for the first time this season, the pitcher had to bat because of “strategy?” Right. As we would see, those rules would hurt the Yankees in the series finale.

OVER BEFORE IT STARTED

A 6-3 loss in Game 1 had an inauspicious start. Pirates shortstop Jordy Mercer smacked a leadoff home run to center off CC Sabathia, staking Pittsburgh to a 1-0 advantage. With runners at the corners, a weak grounder to third by David Freese plated the Pirates’ second run of the evening in the first.

The second stanza wasn’t much better for the veteran lefty. A Jose Osuna triple to right put the Pirates back in business. Ensuing batter Josh Bell homered to left-center and doubled the Pittsburgh advantage to 4-0.

CHIPPING AWAY

In the third, the Yankees scratch back against the effectively wild Tyler Glasnow. After Brett Gardner coaxed a free pass, a Chase Headley double and error on Osuna in right, got New York on the board.

Jumping to the fifth, consecutive two-out singles by Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Judge, coupled with an error by Josh Harrison at second on a ball grounded by Greg Bird, allowed the Yankees to climb within 4-3 and chase Glasnow from the game.

Yet, the Pirates would tack on two runs for insurance in the seventh against the bullpen and the Yankees couldn’t quite forge a comeback in the ninth with the tying run at the dish.

COMEBACK KIDS

In the town of terrible towels, the Yankees used their rally towels in an 11-6 victory in Game 2. Michael Pineda wasn’t lights out but gave a representative start, pitching 5.0 innings with six K’s and two of the three runs allowed being solo home runs.

SUCCESSFUL SIXTH

Trailing 3-0 in the sixth, the Bronx Bombers stormed back and broke the game open against Pirates starter Jameson Taillon. The big blows were a three-run, game-tying bomb to left-center by Starlin “hit machine” Castro.

Raise your hand if you had Ronald Torreyes as the first Yankees player to register a four-hit contest. After breaking into the bullpen, Torreyes busted a two-run double to right, giving the Yankees a 5-3 edge.

Conversely, the Pirates would mount a comeback of their own against the Yankee bullpen in the home half of the sixth. A single to center by Mercer against Jonathan Holder, couple with an Adam Frazier single to left off of Tyler Clippard, squared the contest at five.

WELCOME TO 2017 MR. CARTER

All he does is hit home runs. Pinch hitting for Dellin Betances with two aboard in the eighth inning, Chris Carter finally connected with a three-run bomb to center, off of Felipe Rivero, providing the Yankees with an 8-5 lead.

After Ellsbury reached third on an E8, he was able to score on a wild pitch by Antonio Bastardo. Aaron Hicks and Headley traded places with consecutive doubles and the Yankees increased their lead to 10-5.

Two errors and a wild pitch certainly didn’t help the Pirates’ cause and the Yankees capitalized as a result.

EXIT VELOCITY

Capping off the offense was Judge in the ninth. Judge’s home run to left-center off of Bastardo gave the Bronx Bombers an 11-5 lead. According to #Statcast, Judge’s blast of 457 feet and 115.6 mph exit velocity are career bests. You know, until his next home run, of course. Judge also received praise from former Yankee great and Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield. Whoa!

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

Game 3 saw the Yankees squander some opportunities and as mentioned at the outset, thanks to National League baseball rules, ran out of bench options at the end of this one. Their 2-1 loss to the Pirates means the Yankees remain in search of their first road series victory of the young season.

Facing old friend Ivan Nova, the Yankees left eight men on base and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Nova worked seven frames and whiffed seven, a Jacoby Ellsbury home run in the seventh being his lone blemish of the afternoon.

On the flip side, Jordan Montgomery was shaky in the early stages but rebounded after getting out of a jam in the first frame with a sacrifice fly by Freese and a Gregory Polanco RBI-double in the third being his undoing.

While Bryan Mitchell worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, Tony Watson did so in the ninth, pitching around an error by Harrison at second base, retiring Pete Kozma for the final out.

ON DECK

At 11-7 on the campaign, the Yankees travel to Boston and take on the Boston Red Sox in a three-game series starting Tuesday evening. Coming off a 6-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles, the BoSox are 11-8.

Pitching probables include Luis Severino vs. Rick Porcello, Masahiro Tanaka vs. Chris Sale and CC Sabathia vs. Drew Pomeranz.