Pirates Squander Falter’s Start, Fall 5-3 to Blue Jays in 14 Innings

Davis Schneider delivered a two-run walk-off home run against Kyle Nicolas as the Pittsburgh Pirates fell 5-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays in 14 innings at the Rogers Center on Friday night.

Nicolas (0-1) retired the first two batters he faced in the inning, but Schneider hit an opposite-fielder homer on the first pitch of the at-bat with two outs.

The Pirates (26-31) came up empty in the top of the 14th against Génesis Cabrera (2-1), who threw 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. 

Ke’Bryan Hayes singled in the sixth inning, but after that, the Pirates went their final eight innings without recording a hit. 

Bryan Reynolds put the Pirates ahead 2-1 in the top of the 11th with a sacrifice fly but was robbed of extra bases on a fantastic diving play by Blue Jays right fielder George Springer.

Springer again came up clutch for Toronto (27-29) by delivering a game-tying hit with two outs in the bottom of the inning. 

Hayes and Kevin Kiermaier each plated runs on sacrifice flies in the 12th. 

Carmen Mlodzinski struck out Cavan Biggio with the bases loaded to end the bottom of the 13th to advance the game further. 

Bailey Falter was nearly untouchable in the start for Pittsburgh, allowing only four batters to reach across six innings. He allowed a pair of singles – one in the third and one in the sixth – walked two and struck out five batters.

The left-hander wraps up the month of May with a 2.23 ERA in five starts. He held opponents to a .193 batting average. 

Blue Jays starter José Berríos allowed one run in seven innings. He yielded six hits, didn’t walk anyone and struck out five. 

Andrew McCutchen singled home a run in the top of the fifth inning to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. 

With two outs in the seventh, Colin Holderman hit George Springer with a pitch. Daniel Vogelbach – who was traded by the Pirates to the Mets to land Holderman in 2022 – pinch hit for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and evened the score with a double to center.

It was a ball that likely should have been caught, but Pirates center fielder Ji Hwan Bae lost the ball in the sky and saw it hit off the wall behind him. 

Up Next

Mitch Keller (6-3, 3.59 ERA) will get the start for the Pirates in the second game of the series on Saturday. Lefty Yusei Kikuchi (2-4, 3.25 ERA) will pitch for the Blue Jays. First pitch: 3:07 ET.