Castro's homer ignites Yankees' late uprising vs. Pirates
PITTSBURGH -- The New York Yankees have been searching for more offense on the road.
They found it late Saturday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates as the Yankees surged for 11 runs after the fifth inning to come from behind for an 11-5 victory.
Starlin Castro got the New York offense moving with a three-run home run off Pirates starter Jameson Taillon in the sixth. Once Castro's shot cleared the left-center field fence for his fourth home of the season, the Yankees' offense got rolling.
Ronald Torreyes followed with a two-run single to give the Yankees their first lead of the day later that inning.
After the Pirates battled back to tie it, another five-run outburst in the eighth put the Yankees over the top.
Chris Carter hit a three-run pinch-hit home run off Pirates' reliever Felipe Rivero (1-1) to put New York ahead for good. It was Carter's first home run of the season and first with the Yankees after he hit 41 last year with Milwaukee.
Rivero pitched 1 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the year. All four runs charged to him were unearned after an error by Adam Frazer extended the inning.
Jacoby Ellsbury scored on a wild pitch and Chase Headley singled in Aaron Hicks later in the eighth.
In the ninth, Aaron Judge capped off the outburst with a 457-foot solo home run to the second deck of the bleachers in left field.
The Pirates battled back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles from Frazier and Jordy Mercer.
David Freese and Andrew McCutchen both hit solo home runs off Yankees starter Michael Pineda. McCutchen added a sacrifice fly to finish with two RBIs.
Pineda went five innings, giving up three runs on five hits while striking out six. Dellin Betances (2-1) earned the win after pitching two-thirds of an inning in relief.
Taillon had his shortest outing of the year at 5 1/3 innings, and the four runs he allowed were a season high.
NOTES: Yankees LHP Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation, giving him seven straight scoreless appearances to start the season. ... LF Aaron Hicks stole his second base of the season. The Yankees have 16 stolen bases, which leads the American League. ... Pirates C Francisco Cervelli was removed from the game after grounding out in the eighth inning. He has been dealing with an ongoing foot issue. ... The Pirates' two errors give them 14 on the season, tying them with Arizona for the most in the National League.