Pirates Crush Five Homers, Match Last Season’s Win Total

The Pittsburgh Pirates tied last season’s win total with one game left to play, winning their 76th game of 2024 9-4 by surviving a late Yankees comeback bid.

Five Pirates (76-85) homered, while Paul Skenes and Mike Burrows—the latter making his big league debut—combined to carry a no-hitter into the fifth inning.

Recap:

Skenes faced the minimum through two innings, mowing through the Yankees for just 23 pitches before giving way to Burrows.

Pittsburgh opened a 4-0 lead behind homers from Yasmani Grandal, Nick Gonzales and Billy Cook before Burrows began to run into trouble.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered in the fifth to put New York on the board, then Jared Triolo hit a two run bomb of his own to push the lead to 6-1.

The Yankees chipped away at the lead in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, scraping across one run with two outs in each.

Yasmani Grandal notched an RBI single in the ninth, then Nick Yorke hit a two-run homer to give Pittsburgh some much needed insurance. New York loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, bringing Aaron Judge to the plate with the tying run on deck.

Manager Derek Shelton brought in Aroldis Chapman for the save attempt. The lefty flamethrower fell behind in the count 2-0 and 3-1, but managed to fight back and get Judge swinging on a sinker. Chapman then induced a lineout to end the game.

Key Moment:

The Yankees made a pair of questionable baserunning decisions on the same seventh inning play, preventing at least one run from scoring. Trailing 6-2, Soto singled with two on and two out, bringing Oswaldo Cabrera around to score. Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas signed for Jasson Domínguez to stop at third, then Soto ran into an out trying to leg out a double, bringing the rally to a close with Aaron Judge lurking in the on-deck circle.

Star of the Game:

Although he only faced six batters in a truncated end of the season start, Paul Skenes looked unhittable against two of the best hitters in the world. He rung up Juan Soto on a filthy fastball that dotted the inside of the plate, then forced Aaron Judge to fan on a sweeper away.

https://twitter.com/mlb/status/1840080347939197215?s=46&t=YudxU6kRtHrvEctSDcskLg

Skenes then ended his day by freezing Jazz Chisholm Jr. with another fastball, one that looked like a two-seamer with arm-side run.

Stat of Interest:

Paul Skenes is the first rookie pitcher since 1918 to make at least 23 starts and finish with an earned run average under 2.00 (1.96).

Noteworthy:

• The Pirates hit four or more home runs in a single game for the fourth time this season, and the only time in the second half.
• Five of Jared Triolo’s eight home runs this season have come since August 17.
• The Pirates made Aaron Judge look silly, striking him out five times for an ignominious platinum sombrero.

Up Next:

The Pirates look to complete the sweep—and improve on last year’s 76-86 record—at 3:05pm Sunday, with Bailey Falter (8-9, 4.26 ERA, 97 K’s) taking on Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.55 ERA, 88 K’s).