Yankees rally for 2 runs in bottom of 8th inning to beat Pirates in season finale

That Oneil Cruz went down swinging for a strikeout for the final out in the ninth inning was a fitting end to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ season.

It proved to be a big whiff.

Alex Verdugo hit a two-run single with the bases loaded to break a tie in the bottom of the eighth, and Clay Holmes fanned Cruz for the final out as the New York Yankees rallied for a 6-4 win over the Pirates in the season finale Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

With the loss, the Pirates (76-86) matched their 2023 record but finished in last place in the NL Central when the Cincinnati Reds (77-85) beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-0, at Wrigley Field. It marked the sixth consecutive losing season for the Pirates and the fourth time in six years they finished last in the division standings.

After making a 14-win improvement last year, the Pirates started with playoff hopes, stayed in wild-card contention through July and were even buyers at the trade deadline. They were 48-48 in the first half but went 28-38 (.424) in the second half, with an August collapse that included a 10-game losing streak and sent their season into a spiral. The Pirates went 13-14 in September.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton tried to spin the positives after the Pirates played their final six games against the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers and the AL East champion Yankees and took two of three against the latter despite fielding a lineup filled with a handful of players in their first or second seasons in the major leagues.

“We have to get better,” Shelton said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “The last two teams that we played, in terms of the Brewers and the Yankees, they’re doing what we expect to do and what we need to do and want to do. I think that’s the thing: We have to continue to find ways to get better.”

The start of the game was delayed 90 minutes by what Shelton called “significant rain conditions” that affected the playing surface and proved “challenging.” At the instruction of umpire crew chief Dan Bellino, the Yankees’ grounds crew repeatedly added dirt to the mound and infield in hopes of making the field playable and preventing injury.

The Yankees ambushed Pirates lefty Bailey Falter as Gleyber Torres hit his first pitch for a double to right field and Trest Grisham hit the second, a fastball over the middle, 391 feet to right for his ninth home run and a 2-0 first inning lead.

The Pirates answered with a three-run third as Clarke Schmidt loaded the bases by hitting Nick Gonzales with a pitch, walking Cruz and allowing a Joey Bart hit that deflected off first baseman Ben Rice’s glove for a single.

Joshua Palacios drilled a two-run double to the right-field corner to tie the score, and Jared Triolo hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Bart to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead.

It didn’t last long as the Yankees tied it in the bottom of the third when Grisham singled to right to drive in Jose Trevino. Torres scored when Giancarlo Stanton grounded into a 6-4-3 double play after shortstop Liover Peguero made a diving stop up the middle, giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

But Bryan Reynolds drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and scored on Bart’s double down the left-field line to tie it. Nick Yorke drew a two-out walk to load the bases against Mark Leiter Jr., who got Billy Cook swinging for a strikeout to escape the jam.

The Yankees had a runner in scoring position in the seventh, but Colin Holderman struck out Trevino and picked off Anthony Volpe attempting to steal third to end the inning.

Holderman (3-6) fanned the first two batters he faced in the eighth but hit Austin Wells with a 3-2 sweeper. Holderman was pulled in favor of Carmen Mlodzinski, who gave up full-count walks to Jasson Dominguez and Jon Berti to load the bases. Verdugo then hit a sharp grounder to right to drive in two runs and give the Yankees a 6-4 lead.

Holmes retired the side in order in the ninth, getting Gonzales and Reynolds to ground out before striking out Cruz for his 30th save.

“One of the things that I’m proud of is, it can be pretty daunting to come into Yankee Stadium as a rookie — and some of these guys with less than 50 at-bats — playing the best team in the American League,” Shelton said. “And we came in here and took two of three. We were competitive today. We were one pitch away from getting out of the eighth inning. I thought they came in here and played well.”