The Bronx, NY — The Yankees lost 5-3 against the Pirates in 10 innings in the first game of the split double header in the Bronx. It was another game with a strong start from a Yankees starter but little to no offense throughout from the Yankees, making every pitch from their staff extra valuable.
The bullpen was solid today, until they got to Fernando Cruz in extra innings, where he gave up two runs on two hits and a walk and had to be pulled from the game. Cruz has a 16.20 ERA and a 178 OPS+ in extra innings this season, neither of which is good.
HITTING HIGHLIGHT: The Yankees’ offense struggled today against Mitch Keller. They had three hits and two walks against him (and one hit by pitch), but the Yankees could not convert against him when they had chances with RISP.
The Yankees’ offense has struggled for a long time now and has not shown many signs of coming out of their extended slump. Their at-bats are weak with not much going their way, and their approach is still off, with some bad swing decisions and takes.
The Yankees did tie the game on a Ben Rice three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh. It gave them hope. That was their chance. The issue is the offense did nothing else the rest of the game, and when the Pirates scored the Manfred man and a few more,
We saw the Pirates use the short porch to their advantage, and the Yankees just could not today.
PITCHING HIGHLIGHT: Gerrit Cole looked like prime Gerrit Cole today. He pitched 7 innings, giving up three runs, one on a fourth-inning two-run home run off the bat of Jacob Gonzalez and one off the bat of Nick Gonzales in the seventh inning.
Cole had all of his pitches working today, and it showed. He was mixing well; he just made two bad pitches. The issue is, like it was Friday, the offense gave him no margin for error. He struck out 11 batters for the first time since 2023, his Cy Young season.
NOTABLE: The Yankees lost both of their ABS challenges early in the game. Both Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. made emotional, bad ABS challenge decisions that cost the Yankees in the game. Both were on a called strike three that saw the pitches fully in the zone.
UP NEXT: The Yankees and Pirates will play the rubber game of the series tonight. For the Yankees, it will be Max Fried returning from the IL to make his first start since May 13th. For the Pirates, it will be righty Bubba Chandler. First pitch will be at 7:05pm TV: YES RADIO: WFAN
