Pirates 5, Yankees 3, ten innings, and this one's going to sting more than a standard three-run loss should. Gerrit Cole struck out 11, Ben Rice tied the game with a three-run bomb in the seventh, and none of it mattered once the bullpen ran into a buzzsaw in the top of the tenth.
The New York Yankees dropped the rescheduled Game 2 of this series at the Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, evening the set at a game apiece with a same-day Game 3 still to come. 43,290 fans turned out on a hot, breezy afternoon (83 degrees, wind blowing straight out to center, which explains a couple of these fly balls) and left with a loss that's going to gnaw at them on the way out of the lot.
Two Turning Points, Not One
Cole was cruising into a jam he didn't create. He struck out 11 Pirates across seven innings and didn't walk a single one of them -- and still walked away with a no-decision, because Jacob Gonzalez turned around a pitch in the fifth for a two-run shot, then Nick Gonzales (spelled differently, still confusing every time it comes up) went deep in the seventh to make it 3-0.
The sixth inning brought its own drama that had nothing to do with the scoreboard: hitting coach James Rowson got ejected by home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott. (The box score doesn't say why. It never does.)
Down 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Ryan McMahon led off with a ground-rule double, Austin Wells drew a walk, and up came Rice against Pirates reliever Carmen Mlodzinski. He turned on a 3-1 pitch and dropped it into the right-field seats for a three-run homer that tied the game at 3 and briefly made the Stadium feel like May again.
Then the Pirates un-tied it. With the automatic runner starting at second in the top of the tenth (still not a fan of that rule, still not going anywhere), Fernando Cruz retired Jacob Gonzalez on a flyout for the first out, then walked Marcell Ozuna, gave up an RBI single to Jared Triolo, and then another RBI single to Jake Mangum. Four straight batters reached after that first out, two runs scored, and the lead was gone before Kervin Castro came in and struck out the side's back half to finally stop it.
Ben Rice's Night
Rice went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts, which isn't a line that jumps off the page until you remember the one hit was a three-run homer -- his 30th of the year -- that briefly saved the Yankees' afternoon. (Thirty homers before August is a nice problem to have, even in a loss.) It's the kind of swing that decides games when the pitching holds up behind it. On Wednesday, the pitching mostly held up. Mostly.
Cole Deserved Better
Eleven strikeouts, zero walks, seven innings, three earned runs, and a no-decision to show for it. Cole was pitching well enough to finish this one himself, and the two homers he allowed (the two-run Jacob Gonzalez shot in the fifth, the solo Nick Gonzales shot in the seventh) were the only real blemishes on an otherwise dominant afternoon. Mitch Keller matched him for five innings on the other side, working around a leadoff single from Jasson Domínguez in the second, a hit-by-pitch, and back-to-back walks in the fourth, and generally making the Yankees earn everything they got.
The Yankees left ten men on base for the day, which is its own quiet tragedy. Jazz Chisholm Jr. went 0-for-5, Cody Bellinger struck out three times, and there were chances in scoring position that just didn't turn into runs. Strand ten runners and score three, and that's how you lose a game your ace pitched well enough to win.
The Bullpen Call
Boone went to Cruz to open the tenth, and it didn't work. One out, then a walk and two RBI singles in a row, and Cruz falls to 4-4 on the year with the loss. Castro came in right after and struck out the next two hitters he faced (Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez) to finally end it -- which just makes you wonder what happens if he starts the inning instead. Gregory Soto worked around nothing at all in the bottom of the tenth, striking out Bellinger and getting two straight popups to lock down his 13th save.
The series sits tied at a game apiece with Game 3 still to be played today, so there isn't much time to sit with this one before first pitch again. The Yankees are 56-45, 2.5 back of the Rays in the East, and Cole's line is the kind you build on even in a loss.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
