The Pirates finally found a way to finish one in New York.
After watching a lead disappear and the game spill into extra innings, Pittsburgh beat the Yankees 5-3 in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on July 22. It was the Pirates’ first extra-innings game in more than two months, their fourth win in 10 such games in 2026, and it pushed them to 53-49. It also evened the series after Pittsburgh dropped the opener 8-5 on July 20, leaving the door open to win it in the finale.
Paul Skenes gave the Pirates exactly the kind of start they needed. The right-hander, who had taken accountability after his last outing against the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park on July 9, responded with five scoreless innings on 75 pitches. He struck out six, allowed three hits, walked two and hit one batter.
Skenes leaned on all seven of his pitches and didn’t just live off the fastball, which he used 35% of the time. He mixed in his slider, changeup, curveball, cutter and sinker, and kept the Yankees from squaring much up.
Just three of his 12 batted-ball events were classified as hard hit. He also threw first-pitch strikes on 13 of 21 batters and generated a 43% whiff rate, finishing his night with a strong strikeout line.
He had to work through traffic, too. In the fourth, he issued back-to-back walks with no outs, then in the fifth he allowed consecutive singles with one out.
Each time, he slammed the door. He finished the fourth with a fly out and two straight strikeouts, then ended the fifth with a strikeout and another fly out.
The Pirates will take that version of Skenes every time, especially coming out of the All-Star break.
On the other side, Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole was rolling until the Pirates finally cracked him. Cole retired the first 14 batters and was perfect through four innings, but Nick Gonzales broke through with a two-out single in the fifth.
Then the Pirates’ third baseman delivered the swing that changed the game. Gonzales turned on a changeup in the middle of the plate and sent it 99.3 mph off the bat and 348 feet to right field for a two-run homer and a 2-0 lead.
He wasn’t done. In the seventh, Gonzales got to Cole again, this time launching a 97 mph four-seam fastball over the plate. The ball left his bat at 102 mph and traveled 397 feet into the Yankees bullpen for his sixth home run of 2026, stretching the lead to 3-0.
Cole still finished with 11 strikeouts, but the Gonzales damage gave Pittsburgh something to work with.
That cushion didn’t last. Carmen Mlodzinski ran into trouble in the seventh, and one pitch proved costly.
After a ground-rule double by Ryan McMahon and a walk to Austin Wells, Mlodzinski left a cutter over the middle and Ben Rice punished it with a three-run homer that tied the game at 3-3. The blast came off the bat at 102.1 mph and traveled 394 feet to right field for Rice’s 30th homer of the season.
Mlodzinski was lifted after 2.2 innings, and Mason Montgomery came on to help keep the game tied and send it to extras.
Pittsburgh wasted no time in the 10th. After Gonzales moved up on a fly out, Marcell Ozuna walked and put runners on the corners.
Jared Triolo then delivered an RBI single to score Gonzales and make it 4-3. Jake Mangum followed with a blooper that brought in Billy Cook, who was running for Ozuna, and the Pirates were suddenly up 5-3.
The Yankees tried to answer with Fernando Cruz out and Kervin Castro in, but Castro struck out Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez to keep Pittsburgh from adding more after Brandon Lowe walked and the bases were loaded.
Gregory Soto handled the finish. He struck out Cody Bellinger, threw a wild pitch that moved Amed Rosario to second, then got Jasson Domínguez to fly out and Jazz Chisholm Jr. to fly out for his 13th save of 2026.
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