Recap: Yankees Take First Game Of Doubleheader

May 3, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira (25) and the Yankees celebrate with win against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees defeated the Rays 6 – 3. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

There weren’t any long balls from the Yankees in this one after slugging five homers in last night’s 7-1 victory over the Pirates. Despite that, the Yanks did manage to pull out an exciting 4-3 victory over the Pirates in the first of two games at Yankee Stadium today.

After Hiroki Kuroda (starting for the Yankees) gave up a solo home run to Neil Walker in the first, the Yankees responded with three of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Mark Teixeira continued his red-hot hitting by driving in two with an RBI single off of Pittsburgh’s starter Charlie Morton. Brian McCann followed him up with an RBI single of his own to put the Yankees ahead 3-1. In the second, Brett Gardner would drive in Kelly Johnson with an RBI double to make it 4-1. Things got dicey in the fifth however, when Kuroda allowed two runs, one on a solo shot by Tony Sanchez and the other on an RBI single by Neil Walker. Kuroda would not relinquish the lead however, as he went a solid six innings en route to earning his third victory of the season (3-3). Matt Daley and Matt Thornton would combine to throw a scoreless seventh. Things got interesting in the eighth, when with two outs and Andrew McCutchen on second, Joe Girardi decided to take Adam Warren out of the game in favor of turning to closer David Robertson for a four out save. Robertson’s last appearance was also a four out save against the Mets. Sure enough, just like last time, Robertson got all four batters he faced, striking out three of them, to preserve the 4-3 win for the Yankees. Robertson is now 8/8 in save opportunities on the season, and the Yankees took their fourth in a row.

They will try for their fifth in a row in the second game, at 4:30. It will be Vidal Nuno (1-1, 6.43) for the Yankees against Gerrit Cole (3-3, 3.76) for the Pirates.