Yankees Game Of Catch-Up Falls Flat, Drop Opener To Pirates

The Yankees six-game road trip got off to a flat start last night as the Pittsburgh Pirates won the opener of a three-game set at PNC Field 6-3 in a game the Bombers never contested.

The Yankees failed to play catch-up after falling behind 4-0 by the end of the second inning in a game that saw the team’s streak of ten consecutive quality starts from the starting rotation snapped as CC Sabathia took his first loss of the season, managing to complete only five innings.

Sabathia surrendered two home runs that negated an otherwise fair performance, which on most nights the offense would have overcome with a couple of blasts of their own.

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Jordy Mercer, the Bucs light hitting shortstop, connected for his first home run of the year and Josh Bell hit a two-run shot to center field that all but put the Yankees away for good.

In dropping the first of a three-game set against a team that the Yankees are supposed to beat, the next two games suddenly become important, if only because the Red Sox are next on the schedule. But if the Yankees can’t stay focused this weekend, they risk arriving in Boston as a different team than the one they have shown themselves to be up to this point.

The Yankees were actually in the game until the seventh inning when Adam Warren faltered for the second time in recent appearances, and they outhit the Pirates 10-8.

Video Courtesy of the YES Network

Yankees Surrender Their Bats

In an unusual move by Joe Girardi, he shuffled his lineup again by placing Starlin Castro in the three-hole and Jacoby Ellsbury as the cleanup batter. They both responded with Ellsbury collecting three hits and a walk to raise his average to .333 for the season.

Ronald Torreyes had his usual one hit game to keep his average around the .250 mark. But of concern, he saw only five pitches in three at-bats. And though I haven’t tracked it, this must typical for Torreyes as his on-base percentage remains the same as his batting average.

Also typical in a Yankees loss, the team was 0-7 with runners in scoring position with Aaron Judge failing three times in those circumstances. The team left eleven men on base.

Turning The Page

So, it was just one of those games when things didn’t click right, and the page turns now to a 4:05 P.M. EST scheduled for this afternoon. Michael Pineda (2-1, 3.44, 21 K’s) gets the start facing Jameson Taillon, who will be making his fourth big league start.

The 6 foot 5-inch right-hander held the Cubs to one run over seven innings last Sunday.

Matt Holliday should be back in the lineup, and we’ll see if Girardi decides to slide Aaron Hicks in as a replacement for Brett Gardner, who continues to struggle batting .192 with a horrific .250 slugging average.

Yankees Weekend Task: Stay Focused And Don’t Look Ahead

The Yankees primary task this weekend against the Pittsburgh Pirates is to stay focused and not looking too far ahead at the Red Sox and Orioles.

As a footnote, kudos to the YES Network for its coverage depicting PNC Park and its inner-city riverside location. If you’ve never been, it’s worth the trip.