- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,228,563
- Reaction score
- 59
The Yankees did all of their damage against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first three innings and won, 8-5, on Monday night.
-- New York’s offense jumped all over Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft from the jump, scoring four runs in the first inning after taking advantage of two Pittsburgh errors on the same play. Ben Rice got things started with a one-out walk and scored all the way from first after Paul Goldschmidt pulled one towards the hole that clanked off third baseman Nick Gonzales’ glove.
Rice would’ve been held up at third with Goldschmidt reaching second, but left fielder Bryan Reynolds picked up the ball and threw it straight into the ground which allowed Rice to scamper home – all on a play that could’ve ended the inning.
-- Cody Bellinger followed with a clean single to put runners at the corners for Jazz Chisholm Jr. who got a curveball right down the middle and deposited it into the right center field seats for a three-run jack which gave New York and Ryan Weathers a quick 4-0 lead.
-- However, Weathers was unable to make it stick, letting the Pirates score three times in the second and twice in the third to take a lead of their own. Three straight hard hits, including two extra-base hits, to begin the second cut the Yankees’ lead in half before Gonzales made up for his error with a two-out single to make it a 4-3 game.
The Pirates took the lead in the third following a leadoff walk and a two-run homer by rookie Esmerlyn Valdez, his 13th of the season in just 32 games.
-- The lead was brief, though, as Goldschmidt singled to lead off the bottom half of the inning before getting erased on Bellinger’s force out. That brought up Chisholm for the second time and after a seven-pitch battle against Ashcraft, Chisholm got a slider down and in that he could handle and wrapped it around the right field foul pole for a two-run shot to re-take the lead.
-- Four straight hits ensued, culminated by Jose Caballero’s two-run double down the left-field line that drove in two more. After that the Yankees’ offense went dark as the Pirates bullpen allowed just two hits in five innings while facing one over the minimum during that time.
-- As for Weathers, the lefty pitched a scoreless fourth and went back out for the fifth looking for a win but was pulled after 4.2 innings and 99 pitches (61 strikes) and didn’t factor into the decision. Instead, Angel Chivilli (1.1 IP) got the win and Brent Headrick and Tim Hill combined to go 1.2 IP while Fernando Cruz came in for the last out of the eighth inning before retiring the side in order in the ninth for his second save of the season. Cruz struck out three of the four batters he faced.
Chisholm's two home runs were the big blasts of the night and after hitting a home run in his last at-bat on Sunday, he made it three straight ABs with a home run.
The Yankees and Pirates meet again on Tuesday night with a 7:05 p.m. start time at Yankee Stadium.
RHP Will Warren (7-4, 4.03 ERA) will match up with RHP Bubba Chandler (3-8, 4.77 ERA).
Continue reading...
Here are the key takeaways...
-- New York’s offense jumped all over Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft from the jump, scoring four runs in the first inning after taking advantage of two Pittsburgh errors on the same play. Ben Rice got things started with a one-out walk and scored all the way from first after Paul Goldschmidt pulled one towards the hole that clanked off third baseman Nick Gonzales’ glove.
Rice would’ve been held up at third with Goldschmidt reaching second, but left fielder Bryan Reynolds picked up the ball and threw it straight into the ground which allowed Rice to scamper home – all on a play that could’ve ended the inning.
-- Cody Bellinger followed with a clean single to put runners at the corners for Jazz Chisholm Jr. who got a curveball right down the middle and deposited it into the right center field seats for a three-run jack which gave New York and Ryan Weathers a quick 4-0 lead.
-- However, Weathers was unable to make it stick, letting the Pirates score three times in the second and twice in the third to take a lead of their own. Three straight hard hits, including two extra-base hits, to begin the second cut the Yankees’ lead in half before Gonzales made up for his error with a two-out single to make it a 4-3 game.
The Pirates took the lead in the third following a leadoff walk and a two-run homer by rookie Esmerlyn Valdez, his 13th of the season in just 32 games.
-- The lead was brief, though, as Goldschmidt singled to lead off the bottom half of the inning before getting erased on Bellinger’s force out. That brought up Chisholm for the second time and after a seven-pitch battle against Ashcraft, Chisholm got a slider down and in that he could handle and wrapped it around the right field foul pole for a two-run shot to re-take the lead.
-- Four straight hits ensued, culminated by Jose Caballero’s two-run double down the left-field line that drove in two more. After that the Yankees’ offense went dark as the Pirates bullpen allowed just two hits in five innings while facing one over the minimum during that time.
-- As for Weathers, the lefty pitched a scoreless fourth and went back out for the fifth looking for a win but was pulled after 4.2 innings and 99 pitches (61 strikes) and didn’t factor into the decision. Instead, Angel Chivilli (1.1 IP) got the win and Brent Headrick and Tim Hill combined to go 1.2 IP while Fernando Cruz came in for the last out of the eighth inning before retiring the side in order in the ninth for his second save of the season. Cruz struck out three of the four batters he faced.
Game MVP: Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Chisholm's two home runs were the big blasts of the night and after hitting a home run in his last at-bat on Sunday, he made it three straight ABs with a home run.
Highlights
What's next
The Yankees and Pirates meet again on Tuesday night with a 7:05 p.m. start time at Yankee Stadium.
RHP Will Warren (7-4, 4.03 ERA) will match up with RHP Bubba Chandler (3-8, 4.77 ERA).
Continue reading...
