Pirates 4-2 Yankees (September 27, 2024) Game Recap

NEW YORK — — Bryan Reynolds homered twice, including a two-run tiebreaking drive in the eighth inning that lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Yankees 4-2 on Friday night and kept New York from gaining home field advantage in the American playoffs League .

The two-run single by Jazz Chisholm Jr. put the Yankees ahead in the fifth inning, but Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds hit consecutive home runs off Carlos Rodón in the sixth.

“I said, ‘Have you ever gotten two at Yankee Stadium?’ And he said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve seen people get two at Yankee Stadium,'” Pirates manager Derek Shelton told Reynolds.

After hitting right-handed against Rodón, Reynolds homered to center and hit left-handed against Tommy Kahnle (0-2).

“He walked back and said, ‘Yes, I have that now,’” Shelton recalled.

Reynolds watched Shelton as he circled the bases.

“So yeah, spoken into existence,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds had his second multihomer game this season and the seventh of his big league career – his third from either side. He leads the Pirates with 24 home runs and 88 RBI, reaching 24 home runs for the fourth straight season.

Joey Wentz, Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski (5-5), Dennis Santana and former Yankee Aroldis Chapman (13th save in 18 chances) combined to eliminate the last 14 Yankees in a row.

New York opens the Division Series at home on October 5 and would be assured of home field advantage in the League Championship Series by winning one of the final two games or by Cleveland losing one of the final two.

Rodón allowed two runs, four hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings. He finished 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA, rebounding 3-8 with a career-worst 6.85 ERA in an injury-marred 2023 after signing a six-year, $162 million contract. Rodón has allowed 31 career home runs, 23 of which were solo.

“The goal was to make every start this year and do that,” Rodón said.

A night after clinching the AL East, the Yankees rested Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Austin Wells. Judge was cleared for his third game this season, following June 10 against Kansas City and June 19 against Baltimore. He homered in five straight games, increasing his Major League total to 58.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone thought about using Judge and Stanton as pinch hitters in the ninth inning.

“Unless we were organizing a rally with some traffic, that wasn’t me. I really appreciated having those guys today,” Boone said. “But it was tempting, yes.”

New York plans to take Monday off, have combinations of practices and simulated games the next three days and a mandatory practice on Friday before the Division Series opener.

Pittsburgh rookie Jared Jones gave up two runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings, reaching 100 miles per hour on four pitches. The 23-year-old rookie right-hander made five starts after missing eight weeks due to a strained lat muscle, finishing 6-8 with a 4.14 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 121 2/3 innings.

“I would say it’s terrible, but a lot of other people would say I had a pretty good one,” Jones said. “When I came back from injury, it took a while for things to come back, and I felt like it finally all came back in the last two, three starts.”

His fastball velocity against the Yankees averaged 98.7 mph, 2.2 mph above his season average and nearly teammate Paul Skenes’ season average of 98.8. Jones’ goal for next year is “just to try and get as strong as I can and maybe get a start or two where I beat Paul Skenes in a velo for a week.”

Chisholm stole a pair of bases for a career-high 40.

“It’s the number we were aiming for all year, 40 bags,” he said.

Right-hander Michael Burrows was added to the Pirates taxi squad.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: INF DJ LeMahieu, who has not played since September 3 due to right hip impingement, plans to resume baseball activities in a few days. “I don’t know if they’ll use me or not, but I’ll definitely try to be available,” he said. … RHP Jake Cousins, out with a right sternum since September 19, played catch Friday for the first time since being injured.

Skenes (11-3, 1.99), a top candidate for NL Rookie of the Year, is making his 23rd and final start. He has thrown 96 pitches of 100 mph or more — Angels right-hander José Soriano is second among starting pitchers with 40. RHP Luis Gil (15-6, 3.27) starts for the Yankees.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB