Yankees pitchers silence bats to prevent Pirates from reaching 70-win mark

The Pittsburgh Pirates have only one thing standing in their way of reaching the 70-win mark for the first time in five years.

That’s the New York Yankees, who turned PNC Park into their playground for the second consecutive night and silenced the Pirates’ bats for the final six-plus innings.

The Yankees scored three runs off Luis Ortiz in the first inning and added home runs by Giancarlo Stanton and Oswaldo Cabrera to roll to a 6-3 win Saturday night before 31,922 at PNC Park.

The Pirates pulled within one run in the third inning, but Yankees pitchers Luke Weaver, Jhony Brito, Ian Hamilton and Clay Holmes combined to retire the final 21 batters. Holmes, acquired from the Pirates at the 2021 trade deadline, earned his 21st save.

“We did a good job. We bounced back,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We got two right off the bat and were able to get back, and I know Ke’ had the base hit in the third. In the fourth, we hit three balls hard, and after that they just kept us off the barrel.

“They did a nice job. Brito came in, and he’s got good stuff. There’s a little funk there and kind of kept us off balance. We just didn’t have very good at-bats after the (third) inning because I thought we hit some balls hard in the (third).”

After three consecutive solid starts, Ortiz (4-5) had command issues against the Yankees and allowed as many walks (six) as hits. Shelton blamed Ortiz’s mechanics, saying he was rushing his delivery and had an inconsistent arm slot. Ortiz said he was trying too hard against the top of the Yankees’ order, with DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres all drawing walks — including three by Judge.

“It was tough for me to find the strike zone,” Ortiz said through interpreter Stephen Morales. “I continued to work hard, but I couldn’t find it all game.”

In the first frame, Ortiz sandwiched walks of LeMahieu and Torres around a Judge strikeout before Austin Wells drove an RBI double over the outstretched glove of Jack Suwinski in center to score LeMahieu for a 1-0 Yankees lead. With two outs, Estevan Florial hit a bloop to shallow right for a two-run single to stretch the lead to 3-0.

“That ball is hit right at him, and that’s the hardest read for a center fielder: A line drive right at him,” Shelton said of Suwinski. “He froze for a second.”

The Pirates faced Weaver (8-7) for the third time this season, although the first two came when he pitched for their NL Central rival, the Cincinnati Reds. Weaver gave up four home runs in the previous two games and would surrender another in the bottom of the first.

After Ji Hwan Bae drew a leadoff walk, Bryan Reynolds drilled Weaver’s first-pitch cutter 416 feet to center for his 22nd home run. Ke’Bryan Hayes reached on an infield single, but Weaver got Suwinski looking at a called third strike and Joshua Palacios and Henry Davis swinging to strand two runners and protect the one-run lead.

Stanton sent an 0-1 slider 418 feet into the left-field bleachers for a solo home run — his 24th of the season and the 402nd of his 14-year career — as the Yankees increased their lead to 4-2 in the third.

In the bottom of the third, Hayes hit a leadoff double to the North Side Notch, advanced to third on Suwinski’s groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Endy Rodriguez to cut it to 4-3.

Ortiz was pulled with two outs in the fourth after Estevan Florial drew a walk and Oswald Peraza singled past shortstop Liover Peguero. Hunter Stratton got Oswaldo Cabrera to fly out to Suwinski in center to escape the jam.

The Yankees increased their lead when Judge walked, advanced to third on a Torres double and scored on a wild pitch by Stratton to make it 5-3 in the sixth. The Pirates turned to Thomas Hatch in the eighth, and Cabrera lined a 1-2 fastball 364 feet to right for his fifth homer and a 6-3 lead. Shelton was more concerned with the Pirates issuing seven walks.

“We walked three in the first and then gave up a two-out hit,” Shelton said, “but, overall, we cannot give free baserunners away.”