The New York Yankees came just short of a miraculous comeback, falling 5-4 in an extra-inning thriller against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the series finale at PNC Park on Sunday afternoon.
The red-hot Yankee offense, which was confined to just one run by left-hander Andrew Heaney through seven innings, erupted in the top of the ninth to erase a three-run deficit and force extra innings.
However, the Yanks stranded five runners in the final three innings, opening up an opportunity for Tommy Pham to walk-off Devin Williams with a one-out single in the bottom of the 11th inning.
“Not being able to push [runs] across a few times just caught up with us,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters after the game. “A little bit of a tough day for us offensively, but what a great rally there in the ninth to get us back into it.”
Yankees (6-3) right-hander Will Warren appeared invincible in his second start of the season – until he didn’t. After retiring the first eight batters he faced, he got clobbered for six hits and four earned runs, striking out five on 87 pitches in just four innings.
Outfielder Cody Bellinger returned to the lineup after missing the first two games of the series with a stiff back. Batting second, he picked up a base knock in his first at-bat of the contest. After stealing second base, the lefty slugger traded places with Jazz Chisholm Jr, who crushed an RBI double off the base of the wall for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Warren coasted through the first two innings, but his night took a turn for the worse when he surrendered a walk and a single with two outs in the bottom of the third; both runners came around to score when outfielder Bryan Reynolds blasted a double off the center-field wall. Warren forfeited another pair of runs in the fourth following a Pham sacrifice fly and an Isaiah Kiner-Falefa double that made it a 4-1 ballgame.
Meanwhile, Heaney was absolutely dominant against an offense that racked up 17 runs in the first two games of the series. The lefty allowed just one run on five hits with 10 strikeouts through seven dominant frames.
Trailing by three and down to their final three outs, Volpe hit a one-out single off Ryan Borucki after Jazz Chisholm Jr. went down swinging. The shortstop advanced to second on a push-bunt groundout from Wells, and Dominguez followed up with a walk.
Peraza then ripped an RBI double that plated Volpe and advanced Dominguez to third. With the tying run at second base, the scorching-hot Trent Grisham connected on his second hit of the night, a two-run single that tied the game at four. Yankee setup man Luke Weaver then sent down the Pirates in order to send the game to extras.
Bellinger led off the inning with a groundout that advanced ghost runner Paul Goldschmidt to third base. Left-hander Caleb Ferguson opted to intentionally walk Judge, inducing a Chisholm lineout and Volpe groundout to strand the Yankee runners on the corners.
Weaver returned to the mound and recorded two quick outs on Ke’Bryan Hayes and Reynolds. After intentionally walking Oneil Cruz, he unintentionally walked Joey Bart to load the bases. But the 31-year-old righty locked in and got Jack Suwinski swinging to escape the jam.
With Volpe leading off second base in the top of the eleventh, Dominguez reached first on a throwing error from Kiner-Falefa that put runners on the corners with one away. Lefty Joey Wentz skirted the trouble after fanning Peraza and inducing a flyout from Grisham.
Williams induced a Valdez flyout to kick off the eleventh. Suwinski then stole third base, and Pham singled on a sharp line to left field to send the Yanks packing.
The Yankees have Monday off and will begin a three-game set against the Tigers in Detroit on Tuesday night.
