Yankees rally past Pirates behind Jazz’s two-homer night
- Davis Cornell
- Jul 20
- 4 min read
The Yankees took down the Pirates 8-5 to take the first game of the series. Ryan Weathers got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Braxton Ashcraft.
Weathers navigated around a two-out infield single and recorded his first strikeout of the ballgame to work a scoreless top of the first inning.
With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Ben Rice worked a walk. Then Paul Goldschmidt chopped a groundball to third base, and an E5 followed by an E7 allowed Rice to score and Goldy to move up to second. The next batter, Cody Bellinger, lined a single to right-center field, putting runners at the corners for last night's hero, Jazz Chisholm Jr. Jazz crushed a three-run home run towards the short porch in right field, his 15th of the year, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead.
“For me, I mean, just my teammates always being behind me and just out here working hard every day and just trying my best to win the game,” Jazz said.
In the top of the second inning, Weathers allowed a leadoff single followed by a double. Jared Triolo followed with a two-run ground rule double, making it a 4-2 ballgame. Nick Gonzales then made it a one-run ballgame thanks to a two-out RBI single right back up the middle.
Weathers walked the leadoff batter in the top of the third inning. The next batter, Esmerlyn Valdez, gave the Pirates a 5-4 lead with a two-run bomb.
Goldy led off the bottom of the third inning with a single up the middle. Jazz then just kept a ball fair in right field for his second home run of the ballgame, this time a two-run shot, giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead.
“I mean, it was a big momentum shift,” Jazz said. “It just shows how much this team has and we're never gonna give up.”
Jasson Dominguez, Ryan McMahon and Austin Wells all singled to load the bases with one out. José Caballero laced a two-run double down the third base line to extend the Yankees' lead to 8-5.
Weathers allowed a leadoff single in the top of the fourth inning, then it looked like he induced a double play, but McMahon botched a groundball, putting two on with no outs. Weathers then got his double play for the first two outs and picked up a strikeout to work a shutdown inning.
Weathers picked up the first two outs of the top of the fifth inning and walked a batter. Angel Chivilli replaced Weathers and picked up the final out of the frame.
Final line for Weathers: 4.2 innings pitched, seven hits allowed, five earned runs, walked two, and struck out five on 99 pitches. He threw his changeup 34% of the time, the slider 23%, the sinker 17%, the fastball 12%, and the sweeper 11%. Weathers topped out at 97.6 mph, sitting at 96.3, and had 20 swings and misses.
“I definitely wanted to get further than I did,” Weathers said. “They put up some good ABs, combined with poor pitch execution on my part. And yeah, the pitch just kind of stacked up quick.”
Chivilli came back out for the top of the sixth and worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 inning on just seven pitches.
Rice lined a two-out single to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend his hit streak to 12 games.
Brent Headrick took over for Chivilli in the top of the seventh inning and retired the side in order and picked up a couple of strikeouts.
Tim Hill came in relief for Headrick in the top of the eighth inning and picked up the first two outs thanks to a double play, then gave up a single. Fernando Cruz replaced Hill and picked up a strikeout to end the inning.
Caballero grounded into a double play to end the eighth inning and exchanged some words with former Yankee Denis Santana in the process, leading to the benches clearing.
“I didn't see anything at the time; I just had to go out there and protect my brother,” Jazz said. “We are with each other for 162 games, and these boys are my family, so I'm always going to be there and backing them up.”
Cruz came back out for the top of the ninth inning and picked up the final three outs to record the save and put the finishing touches on the win.
The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Will Warren on the mound facing off against Bubba Chandler. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
My thoughts on the game: Great win tonight. On a night where the Yankees bullpen was gassed, Headrick, Hill, Cruz, and Chivilli combined for 4.1 shutout innings with five strikeouts. Weathers had a terrible start, giving a 4-0 lead straight back. But the lineup gave Weathers some run support for a change. It looks like Weathers is really starting to hit a wall now, as he has now hit a career high in starts and innings pitched. A great performance from the Yankees offense with 11 hits and eight runs. Wells and Caballero each had multi-hit games. Caballero also had a couple of RBIs. Jazz had a multi-home run game with five RBIs, as it looked like he may be starting to heat up at the plate. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees could really use a good start from Warren to clinch the series.
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