Game 43 Wrap-Up: PIT 5 NYY 3

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The win earlier today gave the Yankees a nice little 4-game winning streak.  They could have kept that going and earned a series sweep in the process with another victory in the second, but that task wasn't going to come easy with Vidal Nuno starting, a very shorthanded bullpen supporting him, and a weak, shallow lineup.  All of those things combined to be too much to overcome and the Pirates escaped New York with a Sunday split.

Game Notes:

- A literal calamity of errors led to all the runs in the 2nd.  A pair by Brian Roberts and Yangervis Solarte cost Nuno a run in the top half, and a brutal fielding error by Travis Snider practically gave the Yanks 2 in the bottom half.

- It was relatively smooth sailing for Nuno after that.  He retired the next 9 hitters in a row through 5 innings, with 8 of the 9 outs coming by either groundout or strikeout.  The one other out came on a nice relay play to nail Josh Harrison trying to stretch a double before the go-ahead run could score.

- Nuno looked to be cruising through the 6th and then he made his 1 big mistake.  He hung an 0-1 slider to Starling Marte and Marte hit it for a go-ahead 2-run home run.  It was his 2nd HR of the day and it gave Pittsburgh the lead.

- The undermanned lineup was held in check after the 2nd by Cole, but the slumping and error-prone Yangervis Solarte got to him for a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 6th.  The guy's finding his power.

- Joe had the JV 'pen for this game and it didn't take long for that to bite him.  Alfredo Aceves gave up a 2-out home run to Harrison on a meatball fastball to make it 4-3 Pittsburgh and bring himself 1 day closer to a DFA.

- The Yanks couldn't mount another comeback.  They left runners on second and third in the 7th, had a potentially run-scoring hit robbed by a good defensive play in the 8th, and went down 1-2-3 in the 9th to split the day.

F*ck Yeahs:

- Solarte: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, .  Good day at the plate, including being robbed of an extra-base hit in the bottom of the 8th, and he rebounded in the field after the bad start.

- Gardner: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 K.  On base times today.  Exactly what you want from your leadoff hitter.

Oh Nos:

- Kelly Johnson: 0-3, 2 K, 1 LOB.  Not a good showing in his first chance to hit clean up in a long time.

- Aceves: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.  The guy's a bum.

Next Up:

The Yanks get a day off tomorrow while they had back to Chicago for 2 games with the Cubbies.  Masahiro Tanaka gets another crack at shutting them out on Tuesday against Jason Hammel.