Pirates Overmatched By Yankees as Rough Patch Continues

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates built a two-run lead on Saturday against the New York Yankees in the bottom of the fourth inning only to watch it slip away a half-inning later.

The Yankees rallied for six runs in the top of the fifth, putting the game out of reach as the Pirates were defeated 10-4 at PNC Park for their sixth loss in their last seven games.

How We Got There

After falling behind 2-0 early, the Pirates (2-7) rallied to take a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Ke’Bryan Hayes cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1 when he doubled home a run on a liner to left. 

Three batters later, Enmanuel Valdez collected his first Pirates’ hit and RBI and gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead with a double off the Clemente Wall. Endy Rodríguez brought home another with a groundout to first base.

But the Yankees (6-2) responded by sending 10 men to the plate in the top of the fifth.

Trent Grishman hit an opposite-field three-run home run, his second of the day, to quickly erase the Pirates’ lead. Grisham was the third of five pitchers in a row to reach against Bailey Falter, who was lifted in favor of Colin Holderman. 

Holderman plunked Aaron Judge on the first pitch he threw to load the bases. Anthony Volpe un-loaded the bases with a three-run double that split the gap in left-center to give the Yankees a 8-4 lead.

Paul Goldschmidt tacked on another run for the Yankees with a base hit in the eighth and Austin Wells brought up the Yankees’ 10th run with a sac fly in the ninth.

Key Moment

Trent Grisham’s second homer of the game against Falter (0-1) not only erased the Pirates’ lead but opened the floodgates to a big inning. 

grisHIM 😤 pic.twitter.com/AV3pYQHsGB

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 5, 2025

Star of the Game

Trent Grisham’s two-homer game marked the third time in his career he hit multiple home runs in the same game. He drove in four runs.

Notable Pirates’ Performances

• Bailey Falter: 4.0 innings, seven hits, seven runs, one walk, five strikeouts 88 pitches/48 strikes
• Ke’Bryan Hayes: 2 for 3, one double, one RBI, one run
• Oneil Cruz: 1 for 3, one walk, one run
• Enmanuel Valdez: 1 for 3, one double, two RBIs

Stat to Know

• Bailey Falter hit Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a pitch on Saturday, snapping a streak of 1,124 plate appearances dating back to 8/20/22. That was the longest streak since Yusmerio Petit in from 4/21/17 to 6/6/21. 

Noteworthy

• Tommy Pham pinch hit for Jack Suwinski in the sixth inning after leaving Friday’s game with an illness. 
• The Pirates have yet to score more than four runs in a game this season. They’ve scored exactly four runs six times.

Up Next

LHP Andrew Heaney (0-0, 1.80 ERA) will be on the mound for the Pirates in Sunday’s series finale. RHP Will Warren (0-0, 3.60 ERA) will start for New York. First pitch: 1:35 p.m. ET.