The Pirates were feeling good after taking down the Yankees, 5-2, in front of a sold-out crowd Tuesday night at PNC Park -- as they should. The Yankees have the best record in baseball, and the lowly Buccos took it to them with hitting, pitching and defense.
Wednesday night, after waiting 69 minutes beyond scheduled first pitch for the weather to clear, the Pirates were reminded of why this team is feared so much as they were trampled in a lopsided 16-0 outcome.
"They can score runs in a hurry," Derek Shelton said. "We saw it tonight. That's why they have 60 wins or whatever."
Yes, the Yankees can score runs. They own one of the most potent lineups in baseball. That was on full display as they clobbered six home runs, two of them grand slams. They also tallied 22 hits on the night, though we'll get into how and why this game got so lopsided later on.
Save for two hitters (Joey Gallo and Kyle Higashioka), this was the same lineup Aaron Boone penciled in when the Pirates held them to two runs the night before. Part of it is simply the ebb and flow of the baseball season. One day you have it, then you don't the next day. That's why these guys play 162 games.
But it's more than that, and Shelton was quick to point it out when he spoke to us after this grueling night.
"I think it just shows last night how well José Quintana pitched to keep a lineup like that down," Shelton said. "Especially (being) left-handed with all the right-handers."
Quintana pitched only five innings Tuesday night, but he battled hard throughout and -- most importantly -- did what needed to be done to keep the Yankees at bay. That's what accomplished veteran pitchers do. They don't get psyched out by perhaps the best lineup in baseball. There may not be an easy out, but they find a way to get the job done. No excuses.
Mitch Keller had the same thing going for the first four innings Wednesday night. Keller really utilized his new sinker well and kept Yankee hitters off balance, striking out five and inducing two critical double plays to keep them off the board for four innings.
Keller was more than aware of the outing turned in by Quintana the night before and wanted to build off of it.
"Q pitched a hell of a game last night," Keller said. "I was just trying to keep that momentum going, and that momentum ran out there in the sixth. Just didn't have enough."
The fifth inning is where Keller ran into the first real sign of danger, though it was hardly self-induced. Keller led off the inning by walking Gallo, then ran into bad luck as the Yankees had the hit-and-run on as Isiah Kiner-Falefa bounced one to shortstop, only to find Oneil Cruz caught in between covering second base with Gallo running and trying to get back to the ball and start perhaps another double play. Instead, the ball got through for a single, then the Yankees had runners on second and third with nobody out.
With the game in a scoreless tie, the Pirates pulled the infield in to try and prevent a run. Keller struck out Higashioka, but DJ LeMahieu followed with a ground ball up the middle that otherwise might have been snagged if the infield was in its typical depth. Instead, it scored two runs.
"The sinker worked," Shelton said. "He got the ground balls, LeMahieu is a good hitter, he's won a batting title. We're infield in there. ... And he hits a ground ball back through the middle, which, I mean, it's a ground ball."
That was Shelton's point. Keller did what he could. Two ground balls that could have easily been outs against that lineup. These are the encouraging signs needed from young pitchers in the organization. Sometimes you just don't get the right bounces at the right times.
The sixth inning is what Keller has to avoid. He nearly got through six with just the two runs allowed, which is more than enough to ask against the Yankees. Keller quickly retired Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres on ground outs -- the latter coming off a stellar play by Oneil Cruz at shortstop.
However, Keller made two critical mistakes, and Josh Donaldson and Gallo did not let him off the hook:
Tuesday night displayed what the Pirates need. They need guys who can go up against any lineup in baseball and give their team a legitimate chance to win the game.
For the most part, Keller did that Wednesday night. It wasn't perfect, but he noticed the standard set by Quintana the night before. Even though there were mistakes made on this particular night, Keller still takes it as a step in the right direction toward becoming more consistent with achieving that standard.
"Outside of those two pitches, I really felt like I controlled the game," Keller said. "There wasn't too much hard contact before that inning. Yeah, it sucks, but you've got to take the positives and keep running with it."
• Keller took the loss Wednesday, but not only due to allowing four runs in six innings. The offense could not get anything going against Luis Severino, though it didn't look that way from the very beginning.
Ke'Bryan Hayes led off the game with a single, then Bryan Reynolds laced a double into the right-center gap that might have scored Hayes if he didn't stumble on his way around the bases.
No bother, though. Runners at second and third with nobody out, the meat of the order coming up. The Pirates will surely get something out of this, right?
Wrong:
The Pirates have to manufacture something there. An RBI groundout. A sac fly. Anything to at least get one run across. Scoring in the first inning changes the complexion of the game. Who knows if Severino pitches with the same conviction if the Pirates put up a crooked number there. Instead, Severino got a boost from getting out of that jam and cruised to six scoreless innings. Meanwhile, the Pirates mustered only four hits on the night.
Good teams do something there. Period.
"It definitely changes the momentum of the game," Shelton said. "Those are situations where we have to capitalize."
• In a game that finished 16-0, the Yankees led by only four runs through six innings. Though it wasn't Keller's cleanest outing, it was enough to keep them within striking distance. However, that was lost in the eighth inning.
After Tyler Beede gave up a solo home run to Higashioka in the seventh to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead, Manny Bañuelos made his Pirates debut after the club purchased him from the Yankees on July 3, becoming the 54th player the Pirates have used this season. In doing so, they joined the 2021 Mets as the only two clubs to use at least 54 players prior to the All-Star break since the game began in 1933.
Simply put, his night did not go well. While he struck out Gallo to start the inning, Bañuelos gave up a single to Kiner-Falefa and walked Higashioka and LeMahieu to load the bases for Aaron Judge.
For those who don't follow the American League, Judge perhaps stands the best chance of dethroning Shohei Ohtani as AL MVP this year. Judge teed off on a sinker that didn't sink, crushing his 30th homer of the season for a grand slam:
At that point, the game is over. It was only a matter of time before Shelton relied on a position player to pitch an inning. But before we get to that...
• There is zero excuse for Yoshi Tsutsugo to drop this ball from Cruz. Zero. It's painful to watch:
• Josh VanMeter took the mound in the ninth with the Yankees leading 10-0. It was predictable that Shelton would opt for a position player with the Pirates trailing by a touchdown and a field goal. The team is about to play 12 road games in 11 days. They'll need all the pitching they can get.
However, it still doesn't take away from the fact that this is just embarrassing for the game of baseball. It goes beyond the Pirates. If you look around the league, it feels like most nights there is a position player tossing batting practice to another team late in the game. For the Pirates, Wednesday was the fifth time they sent a position player to the mound.
The Yankees put up six runs, five coming off a grand slam by Aaron Hicks and a solo home run by Stanton.
“It sucks. You never want to be in that position," VanMeter said. "You just want to go out there and throw strikes, really. You’re not trying to punch anybody out or anything. You’re just trying to throw strikes and I did that. I threw like 23 pitches and faced 14 hitters or something. It’s not like I was walking guys or anything."
Read that one more time, especially the whole "you’re not trying to punch anybody out or anything" part.
That's the problem. The integrity of the game easily compromised.
When will baseball ever get out of its own way?
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 15-day injured list: LHP Dillon Peters (back)
• 60-day injured list: SS Kevin Newman (groin), OF Jake Marisnick (thumb) OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery) RHP Max Kranick (elbow), Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Jack Suwinski, LF
4. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
5. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
6. Oneil Cruz, SS
7. Ben Gamel, RF
8. Michael Perez, C
9. Josh VanMeter, 2B
And for Aaron Boone's Yankees:
1. DJ LeMahieu, 1B
2. Aaron Judge, CF
3. Matt Carpenter, RF
4. Giancarlo Stanton, DH
5. Gleyber Torres, 2B
6. Josh Donaldson, 3B
7. Joey Gallo, LF
8. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
9. Kyle Higashioka, C
THE SCHEDULE
Believe it or not, this is the last home game before the All-Star break. The Pirates begin a 12-game roadtrip tomorrow with a doubleheader in Cincinnati. Roansy Contreras (2-2, 4.09) takes on Mike Minor in the first game at 2:05 p.m. Alex Stumpf will have both games covered from Great American Ball Park.
THE CONTENT
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