9/17/23- By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on Twitter
Following a strong past several weeks where the Pirates won or split the series against 4 of their last 5 opponents, they were on the verge of not just losing a series versus the Yankees but being swept for the first time since July 14-16 (San Francisco Giants). It took some strong pitching and a lucky bounce to ensure the sweep would not occur.
It was a pitching duel early as Colin Selby retired 6 of 7 batters he faced – the lone Yankee reached via a walk in the first inning. Andre Jackson relieved him and was rolling along as well, retiring his first 8 hitters before allowing a walk in the 5th inning. He retired the next hitter to strand the runner.
Starting for New York, their big free agent signing this past offseason in southpaw Carlos Rodon. While injuries hindered him earlier in the season, he appeared strong and healthy today, touching 100 on his fastballs and getting ugly swinging-strikes on his off-speed stuff.
Jared Triolo notched the first hit of the game off Rodon leading off the third inning and scored on a 2-out single by Liover Peguero. In the next inning, Miguel Andujar shot a fastball up and out of the zone 370 feet down the right field line, banging it off the foul pole, extending the Pirates lead to a 2-0 score.
Yankees answered back in the top of the 6th with a lead-off single by Estavan Florial for New York’s first hit of the day and it was followed by a DJ LeMaheiu double down the third base line to score Florial and cut the deficit in half. The Yankees tied it up in the 7th with a 1-out shot to center by Anthony Volpe. Ryan Borucki came on and got the last 2 outs to prevent any further damage.
Bottom of the 7th inning with Rodon still on the bump and still touching 100 with his heater, Triolo laced another double to left center and scored on a double by Jason Delay that took a surreptitious bounce off the third base bag and gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead off Rodon’s 103rd (and final) pitch of the day.
Carmen Mlodzinski came in for the 8th inning to face the top of the Yankees order and put them down in order, including a strikeout against Aaron Judge.
David Bednar came on for the 9th inning, striking out Giancarlo Stanton on 3 pitches before rookie catcher Austin Wells shot a double to center, putting the tying run in scoring position with 1 out. Then, he struck out Volpe on a high 3-2 fastball and got Oswaldo Peraza to strikeout on a diving curve to secure the win.
News & Notes
- The start of the game was delayed by 15 minutes due to rain.
- This was Rodon’s fifth career start against the Pirates and only his second career loss in those appearances (previous loss came on 6/15/2015). He came in 3-1 with a 3.97 ERA before allowing 3 runs in 6.2 innings today.
- Triolo had only two doubles total on the season over 136 previous at-bats before hitting two more today.
- Alika Williams didn’t get anything going with his bat but had a strong game with his glove, notching 7 assists in the field on the day from shortstop – the most of any Pirates player this season.
- After an off-day tomorrow, Pirates head on the road to face the Cubs in Chicago on Tuesday. First pitch scheduled for 7:40PM. Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 
Just curious why not use Mlodzinski as an opener or better yet return him to starting rotation (was starter until AAA or was it AA) stats could been that poor
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