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Pirates greet Yankees with offensive outburst

Jun 25, 2008 - 3:06 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- It took 48 years, but the Pittsburgh Pirates finally got another win at home against the New York Yankees.

Jose Bautista hit his fifth home run in his past nine games and Ryan Doumit homered for the fifth time in his past eight as the Pirates beat the Yankees, 12-5, in the first meaningful meeting between the two here since Game Seven of the 1960 World Series.

Adam LaRoche went 3-for-5 with two RBI and Freddy Sanchez added three hits and three runs for Pittsburgh, which last beat the Yankees on October 13, 1960, when Bill Mazeroski's famous ninth-inning home run gave his team one of its five World Series titles.

"I guess you could say we were very eager for this game," Pirates manager John Russell said. "As far as preparation, we didn't do anything different than we always do, though. We know they're a very good club, that's no secret.

"They have some very good players, but that doesn't take away from the fact you have to pitch, play defense and hit. The fans were into it a lot, and we fed off of that."

Robinson Cano went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run, Justin Christian had two hits - including a two-run double - in his major league debut and Bobby Abreu added a ninth-inning two-run homer for the Yankees, who have lost three of four.

"We had a lot of chances and didn't take advantage of them, and that's what kills you," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We stunk is the bottom line. We stunk."

Pittsburgh, which pounded out a season high-tying 19 hits, became the final major league team to beat the Yankees for the first time in the regular season. The Pirates were swept twice in Yankee Stadium over the past three seasons. The third-largest crowd in the history of PNC Park, 38,867, attended.

"When we walked out there today, it was a different atmosphere," said Jason Bay, who had two doubles. "There were a lot of people. You didn't know how many of those were going to be Yankee fans, but it turned out that we actually had the majority - most of them. The atmosphere from my point of view was a little like the All-Star Game a couple years ago. That's something that doesn't happen here a lot, and it's something pretty neat to play in."

The Pirates took an early 2-0 lead off of New York starter Darrell Rasner on first-inning RBI singles by Sanchez and LaRoche, and Pittsburgh added another run in the third when Bay doubled in Sanchez.

New York got its first run off of Tom Gorzelanny in the fourth, when Jorge Posada scored on Cano's single, but Bautista's ninth homer came with former Yankee Doug Mientkiewicz aboard in the bottom of the inning. Mientkiewicz had two hits and a sacrifice fly.

The Pirates began to put the game away when they took a 7-1 lead with two runs in the fifth thanks to Doumit's shot, his 10th, and LaRoche scoring on a wild pitch. Doumit had missed the previous five games with concussion-like symptoms but also had an RBI double and went 3-for-5.

"Hitting's contagious, and we got one big hit after another today," Doumit said. "We jumped out to an early lead and didn't give them much breathing room from there, so this feels good."

LaRoche, who had tripled for only the third time in his career and first since August 30, 2006, also ripped an RBI single in the seventh.

Gorzelanny (6-6) won despite struggling with his control all game long, throwing only 47 strikes and 52 balls. He allowed three runs and six hits with five walks and two strikeouts.

"Obviously, (the problem was) location," said Gorzelanny, who entered the game having won just one of his previous five outings. "But I got through it. I was getting into situations where I wasn't being aggressive, but I got over that and made some good pitches when I had to."

Gorzelanny issued two walks to Rasner (4-5), who lost for the fifth time in his past six starts, allowing seven runs and 10 hits in five innings with no walks and two strikeouts.

"The whole thing was location tonight," Rasner said. "I wasn't locating, and I paid for it. I need to make better pitches."

Nyjer Morgan added a two-run double in the eighth for Pittsburgh.

"It was nice for us to get off on the right foot during the first game of the series with that many people in the stands," Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson said. "You really could hear how many people were here."