Takeaways and Throwaways – Sloppy Pirates lose 11-5 to Yanks

The Pittsburgh Pirates looked sloppy, and Jameson Taillon looked human in an 11-5 loss to the Yankees

Welcome to Takeaways & Throwaways. Shortly after every Pittsburgh Pirates game, come to Pirates Breakdown to see our flash recap format. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the game, without making you read the same boring recap you can see anywhere else.

FINAL:  New York Yankees 11 – Pittsburgh Pirates 5

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Takeaways

• The Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense has been burgeoning over the first two games of this series. Today it saw Andrew McCutchen and David Freese tag home runs, and some great situational hitting from Adam Frazier.
• Wade LeBlanc once again looked very capable as a late-inning swiss army knife option, this time getting a pivotal out to escape the sixth inning.

Throwaways

• For the first time in what feels like a very long time, Jameson Taillon seemed human. Though he had walked two batters prior, the unraveling came in a pivotal sixth inning, culminating in a massive Starlin Castro home run. Taillon’s final line – 5.1 IP / 5 H / 4 ER / 3 BB / 4 SO
• John Jaso got the start in right field and looked every bit the part of someone had not played the position much entering the season. Though not charged with an error, his impressive misplaying of a ball in the sixth inning fueled the Yankee attack. He also went 0-for-4 at the plate.
• After touching up Tyler Clippard – tying the game at 5 and then putting a runner on third with one out – the Pittsburgh Pirates hitters did a poor job of adjusting to Dellin Betances, who came in to relieve Clippard. Betances made quick work of the min-rally.
• Rivero gave up a massive three-run shot to Chris Carter after getting two quick outs in his second inning, though all runs were unearned due to an error by Frazier.
• The Pirates defense as a whole has been miserable as of late and that trend continued today. In addition to the Frazier error, McCutchen had an ugly error in the eighth that prolonged the inning, which eventually saw Antonio Bastardo uncorck a wild pitch to allow in another unearned run.

Up Next

The Pittsburgh Pirates will wrap up the three-game series with the New York Yankees tomorrow at PNC Park. First pitch is set for 1:35 PM EST. The Pirates will face a left-hander in Jordan Montgomery, while the Yankees will face an old friend in Ivan Nova.