Pirates Unable to Complete Sweep Over Yankees in Season Finale

After taking the first two games of the series, the Pittsburgh Pirates were unable to complete the sweep over the New York Yankees with a 6-4 loss at Yankee Stadium on Sunday to conclude the 2024 season.

Recap

The Yankees (94-68)  jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Trent Grisham’s two-run home run against Bailey Falter in the first inning. 

The Pirates (76-86) evened the score on Joshua Palacios’ two-run double in the third and took the lead on Jared Triolo’s sacrifice fly later in the inning. 

Grisham drove in his third run of the game in the bottom of the third to once again tie the game 3-3. The Yankees reclaimed the lead when Giancarlo Stanton bounced into a double play but Gleyber Torres scored. 

Joey Bart drove in Bryan Reynolds with a double to left in the top of the fifth to tie things up at 4-4. 

The score remained there until the bottom of the eighth inning when Alex Verdugo brought home a pair of runs with a single while the bases were loaded with two outs off of Carmen Mlodzinski. Colin Holderman (3-6) was responsible for one of the two runs that scored.

Key Moment

The Pirates had runners on second and third with nobody out and the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth but were unable to do anymore damage. 

Star of the Game

Though Verdugo delivered the game-winning hit, Grisham sparked the Yankees’ offense early and came through again a couple innings later.

Stat to Know

Nick Yorke struck out in the third inning was the Pirates’ 1,498th this season, which set a franchise record. 

Noteworthy

• The Pirates’ final record of 76-86 matches their 2023 win-loss total.

Up Next

The Pirates will be in Miami to face the Marlins to open the 2025 season on March 27. Thanks for reading along this year and stay tuned at Pittsburgh Baseball Now all offseason!