Yankees-Pirates: Rasner Falters, Bucs Win Big

The Pittsburgh Pirates crushed the New York Yankees Tuesday night, by a score of 12-5.

Simply put, Yankees' starter Darrell Rasner didn't have it. He went five innings, allowing seven earned runs on ten hits, and struck out four.

Pirates' starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny was not particularly great either, but got plenty of run support to help his cause. Gorzelanny went six innings, gave up three earned runs on six hits, walked five, and fanned two.

The Bucs got their offensive assault started in the bottom of the first, striking for two quick runs. Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche each had an RBI in the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the Pirates put another run on the board, giving them a 3-0 edge.

The Yankees finally broke out with a run in the top of the fourth with an RBI from Robinson Cano, cutting the lead to 3-1.

In the fourth inning, the Pirates got two more runs with a two-run homer off the bat of Jose Bautista, his 9th of the year. His round-tripper gave the Bucs a 5-1 lead.

Things got worse for Rasner and the Yankees in the bottom of the fifth. The Bucs struck for two more runs, and Rasner gave up another home run, this time to Ryan Doumit. After five innings of play, Pittsburgh had a 7-1 lead.

In a bright spot for the Yankees, they were able to get two runs in the top of the sixth from their up-start left fielder Justin Christian, who made his Major League debut tonight. Christian filled in for regular left fielder Johnny Damon who was sitting out with a sore left foot.

With the score at 7-3 after six innings, the Pirates continued to murder the Yankee bullpen. The Bucs gathered 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the bottom of the eighth, making the score 12-3 going into the top of the ninth.

With Derek Jeter on first and two out in the top of the ninth, Bobby Abreu slammed a home run, making the score 12-5. It was too little too late as the Pirates went on to win, and take game one of this three games series in a big way.

Gorzelanny picked up the win, and his record is now an even 6-6 on the year.

Rasner picked up the loss, and is now 4-5 overall. On another note, the Yankee pitching gave up a total of 19 hits tonight.

Tomorrow night at 7:05 ET, the Yankees will look to rebound with Joba Chamberlain (1-2, 2.36 ERA). As of press time, the Pirates have Zach Duke (4-4, 3.91 ERA) penciled in as their probable starting pitcher.