Pirates Melt Down in the Late Innings, Lose 16-0 to Yankees

The Pirates split their home series with the Yankees after a 16-0 loss on Wednesday, July 6.

Mitch Keller flirted with disaster early in his start as he went six innings, punching out seven but allowing ten hits. The Yankees got to him in his third turn through the lineup, while Luis Severino backed the Bronx bats with six innings of shutout ball. 

The Pirates put runners on second and third with no outs in the first, but Severino got out of the jam with a pop up, strikeout and groundout—the first of twelve consecutive Pirates retired. 

O’Neil Cruz turned a pair of 4-6-3 double plays in the second and third innings, preventing the Yankees from scoring despite heavy traffic on the bases.

Keller’s penchant for Houdini acts came back to bite him in the fifth when first baseman DJ LeMahieu broke the ice with a two-run single. Aaron Judge followed that up by smoking a double off the right-center wall, but a 9-4-2 relay left LeMahieu dead to rights as he slid home, thanks to a sprawling tag by catcher Michael Perez.

Cruz led off the bottom of the frame with an infield single, beating the throw on a 113.8 mph ground ball hit into the shift, but he couldn’t advance from there.

Josh Donaldson and Joey Gallo hammered back-to-back home runs to make it 4-0 in the sixth.

Catcher Kyle Higashioka led off the seventh with another solo shot, but reliever Tyler Beede worked around a bases loaded jam to keep it 5-0. 

It was all for naught, however, as the Yankees doubled their lead in the eighth. Judge hit a grand slam off Manny Banuelos to open a 9-0 lead, and Donaldson plated another run on a sacrifice fly.

Second baseman Josh VanMeter pitched the ninth and gave up six runs, including a grand slam to Aaron Hicks and a solo shot to Giancarlo Stanton, on the way to the 16-0 final.

The loss moves the Pirates to 33-48 on the season. Up next is a one-off double header in Cincinnati on Thursday, July 7.