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

NEW YORK – Bryan Reynolds hit two home runs, including a crucial two-run drive in the eighth inning, that put the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Yankees 4-2 on Friday night and prevented New York from claiming home-field advantage in the American League playoffs to secure.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s two-run single gave the Yankees the lead in the fifth inning, but Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds hit consecutive home runs off Carlos Rodón in the sixth inning.

“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 recalled telling Reynolds.

After hitting Rodón with his right hand, Reynolds fired a left-handed punch down the middle against Tommy Kahnle (0-2).

“He went back and said, 'Yeah, I have that too now,'” Shelton recalled.

Reynolds looked at Shelton as he rounded the bases.

“So, yeah, launched,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds had his second multihomer game of the season and the seventh of his big league career — his third on both sides. He leads the Pirates with 24 home runs and 88 RBI, reaching 24 home runs for the fourth consecutive season.

Joey Wentz, Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski (5-5), Dennis Santana and former Yankee Aroldis Chapman (13th save in 18 chances) retired together, retiring the final 14 Yankees in order.

New York opens the Division Series at home on October 5 and will clinch home-field advantage in the League Championship Series if Cleveland wins one of its final two games or Cleveland loses one of its 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, a rebound of 3-8 with a career-worst 6.85 ERA in an injury-plagued 2023 after signing a six-year, $162 million contract had. Rodón has allowed 31 home runs, the highest of his career, 23 of them solo.

“The goal was to go out and make every start this year, and we did that,” Rodón said.

A night after winning the AL East, the Yankees rested Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Austin Wells. Judge played his third game this season after June 10 against Kansas City and June 19 against Baltimore. He hit a home run in five straight games, raising his major league hit total to 58.

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

“Unless we can put together a rally with some traffic, I wouldn’t really appreciate having these guys down today,” Boone said. “But it was tempting, yes.”

New York plans to take Monday off, conduct combinations of workouts and simulated games the following three days and hold a mandatory practice on the Friday before the Division Series opener.

Pittsburgh rookie Jared Jones gave up two runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings and reached 100 mph on four pitches. The 23-year-old rookie right-hander made five starts after missing eight weeks with 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 result,” Jones said. “When I came back from injury it took a while for that stuff to come back and I felt like in the last two or three starts it all finally came back.”

His fastball velocity against the Yankees averaged 98.7 mph, 1.4 mph above his season average and nearly his teammate Paul Skenes' season average of 98.8. Jones' goal for next year is “just to get as strong as possible, and maybe I'll get one or two starts where I beat Paul Skenes on the bike for a week.”

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

“That’s the number we’ve been shooting for all year: 40 sacks,” he said.

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

TRAINER ROOM

Yankees: INF DJ LeMahieu, who has not played since September 3 due to a right hip impairment, 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 since Sept. 19 with a strained right pectoral muscle, played catch Friday for the first time since his injury.

NEXT

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

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