Pirates’ bullpen implodes again as Yankees win 14-2

About the only good thing about this game for the Pirates is that none of their pitchers gave up historic home run #61 to Aaron Judge.

Roansy Contreras gave up a grand slam to Oswaldo Cabrera in the first inning in a very un-Roansy way, but he settled down and got ten Ks before he started floundering in the fifth. The home run beast in this game was Gleyber Torres, who hit two. There were lots of doubles—Judge got two—as the bullpen again struggled, particularly in the eighth, when the Yankees scored eight runs and got Judge up again. He walked in that at-bat, and you can’t convince me that Eric Stout intentionally walked him just so he wouldn’t be That Guy. I don’t think it was on Derek Shelton’s say-so, though.

This bullpen has struggled all year, but giving up eight runs in late innings. Shelton got as much out of Contreras as he could—Roansy threw 87 pitches, the most he’s thrown in a game so far, and you could almost see Shelty grit his teeth as he was forced to go to the bullpen.

Ke’Bryan Hayes got both RBIs off a sac fly and a single, so thanks for that, Seedman.

The Pirates come back to Pittsburgh to start a four-game series against the Cubs, with Mitch Keller on the mound tomorrow. If he’s a good Mitch—and he has been—it might be enough to take the taste of this disastrous road trip out of the Pirates’ mouths.