BRONX, NY — One day after clinching the American League East, the Yankees, resting many of their regular players, fell to the Pirates 4-2 on Friday night in the Bronx.
On a day that Bryan Reynolds hit a pair of home runs, Pirates starter Jared Jones struck out seven in 4.1 innings to help lead the Pirates to victory.
After Thursday night’s postgame festivities, many regulars rested following the
victory. Among the regular starters not to suit up for the Yankees (93-67) were Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, and Austin Wells.
With the Yankees trailing late in the game, many were left wondering if one of Judge or Stanton would pinch hit, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone opted to give them a full day’s rest.
“Unless we were putting together a rally with some traffic, I wasn’t going to,” Boone said. “I really valued having those guys down today, but it was tempting.”
On the mound, it was Carlos Rodon for the Yankees, who was starting in a career-high
32nd game of the season.
He and Pittsburgh’s rookie sensation Jones helped ensure things remained scoreless through the first four and a half innings, with Jones shining. Through four innings, the second half of the promising duo, along with Paul Skenes, had allowed only three hits and struck out seven.
However, Rodon and the Yankees were able to keep the Pirates off the scoreboard due in large
part to great defensive plays from the likes of Jazz Chisholm, Trent Grisham, as well as two
caught stealings by Jose Trevino, something he struggled to do for much of the season.
Trevino led off the fifth inning with a single, followed by an Oswaldo Cabrera double. After forcing Gleyber Torres to ground out to short on a broken bat, Jones was pulled, a move made by the Pirates to save their young rising star for seasons ahead.
The Pirates replaced Jones with reliever Joey Wentz, who intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases, then allowed the first two runs of the game on a Chisholm single up the
middle, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
The Yankee lead wouldn’t last long, as Nick Gonzalez and Reynolds led off the top of the fifth inning with back-to-back home runs to even the score back at two apiece. Rodon would bounce back a batter later, getting Joey Bart to ground out to short, but that would be the
last batter he faced. Rodon pitched 5.1 innings, struck out five but walked four, and allowed two runs on four hits meaning neither Rodon nor Jones would be part of the decision.
“His line ended up alright,” Boone said. “I think he’s a little frustrated with the walks, I thought his stuff was good; he had pretty good swing and miss stuff early. There were just a few walks I think he was frustrated with. But he threw the ball well.”
In the top of the eighth, it was once again Bryan Reynolds who sent the ball over the fence.
Following a Billy Cook single, Reynolds crushed a Tommy Kahnle changeup over 420 feet into Monument Park, which gave the Pirates a 4-2 lead, a lead they held onto for the remainder of the game.
