Pittsburgh Pirates Fail to Give Yanks a Challenge in Game 1

Pittsburgh Pirates’ home opener was ruined by the Yankees, who earned a 9-4 victory. The Yankees took advantage in Pittsburgh of a strong pitching performance from $218 million man Max Fried.

There was a strong chance of rain this weekend and it was supposed to start today around 7 pm, so the game becoming official was important. The Pittsburgh Pirates have finished in last place in the National League Central in four of the last five years. Do you think the Pirates will finish in last place again this year?

Lineups For the Game

Pittsburgh had Ke’Bryan Hayes batting first and playing third base. Bryan Reynolds batted second and was the designated hitter. He is rumored to be a Yankees trade target. Oneil Cruz played shortstop and batted third. Joey Bart was the catcher and batted fourth. Andrew McCutchen batted fifth and played right field. Tommy Pham was playing left field and batting sixth for the Pirates.

He was replaced by Alexander Canario in the third inning. Endy Rodriguez was playing first base and batting seventh. Jared Triolo played second base and batted eighth.  Old friend Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the shortstop and batted ninth.

The Yankees changed up their lineup yet again. Ben Rice led off and was the designated hitter.  Aaron Judge batted second and played right field. Jazz Chisholm Jr. batted third and played second base. Paul Goldschmidt batted fourth and played first base. Austin Wells was the catcher, batting fifth.

Anthony Volpe batted sixth and played shortstop. Trent Grisham batted seventh and played center field. Jasson Dominguez played left field and batted eighth. Oswaldo Cabrera batted ninth and played third base.

Scoring Summary: Yanks Against Pittsburgh

The Yankees scored two runs in the second inning. They did this with a two-run single from Orlando Cabrera. He did not have any home runs or runs batted in on the young season, so this was a good sign.

The Yankees score two runs in the third inning as well. Jasson blooped one to new left fielder Alexander Canario to score one, then Orlando Cabera hit a clean single for his third run batted in of the game.

Bryan Reynolds hit a solo home run for Pittsburgh in the fourth inning. That cut the Yankee lead to 4-1. Anthony Volpe drove in Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth inning to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead.

The Yankees chased the Pittsburgh starter, who had a 29th birthday today, in the fourth inning. Then, Jasson Dominguez got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and it was 6-1 Yankees. Then Oswaldo Cabera walked, for his fourth run batted in, giving the Yankees a 7-1. This all happened with 2 outs.

Aaron Judge hit a two-run home run in the 7th inning. What else is new? That gave the Yankees a 9-1 lead. He now has six home runs and 17 runs batted in.

Notes from the Game

Coming into the game, the Yankees had gotten home runs from ten different players, the most in major league baseball. Joey Bart, who batted fourth for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was the second-round pick of the San Francisco Giants. A stiff back kept Yankee star Clay Bellinger on the bench. That is why he was not in the starting lineup.

This was the 1,000th game for Aaron Judge, who, by far, has the most home runs of almost anyone in the history of baseball through 1,000 games. Both Judge and Babe Ruth hit 321 home runs in 1,000 games.

The Pirates fans started chanting, “Sell the team” in the third inning of the Pittsburgh home opener.

Max Fried pitched five and two-thirds innings and left the game after surrendering only one run, eligible for his first Yankee win. He gave up only one walk and had six strikeouts over 98 pitches.

Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a three-run home run for the Pirates in the seventh inning, cutting the Yankees lead to 9-4.

Conclusion

The Pittsburgh Pirates are bad, and the Yankees need to beat up on them this weekend. They took a good first step in this game. To keep setting a torrid pace, the Yankees need to win all three games in Pittsburgh this weekend, if it does not rain.