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Pirates-Yankees game postponed

Jun 27, 2008 - 4:53 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Severe thunderstorms forced the postponement of Thursday's scheduled interleague contest between the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees.

The game will be made up on Thursday, July 10, at 7:05 p.m.

In the rubber match of a three-game set, the game was delayed by rain in the top of the third with the Yankees holding a 3-1 advantage. After a 2-hour, 31-minute delay, the game was called.

"We can't stay here until 2 or 3 in the morning and then play a doubleheader," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, referring to his team's two-stadium doubleheader in New York against the Mets on Friday. "I think they made the right decision."

On Thursday, the Yankees jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, courtesy of RBI doubles by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez wrapped around a run-scoring triple by Bobby Abreu. The Pirates closed to within two in the bottom half of the inning on Ryan Doumit's RBI single.

The game did not reach the required 4 1/2-inning mark, so it will be replayed in its entirety. The first two games of the series were split, with the Pirates claiming a 12-5 triumph on Tuesday and the Yankees posting a 10-0 victory on Wednesday.

"Obviously, you look at the first game - we know we can compete with these guys," Pirates manager John Russell said. "We know that we can do some good things against them. The second game, we know that they're a good club."

On Friday, the Yankees send righthander Dan Giese (1-2) to the mound against righthander Mike Pelfrey (4-6) at Yankees Stadium before the clubs switch to the nightcap at Shea Stadium.

Ironically, Giese was instructed to fly home ahead of the team, but the hurler instead spent eight hours at Pittsburgh International Airport after he missed his flight.

"They said, 'We paged you,'" Giese said. "You can't hear a page if you're 10 feet past the gate. I guess they found a minute window they could take off in."

In the second game, the Yankees give the ball to righthander Sidney Ponson (4-1), who was picked up off waivers last week, while veteran righthander Pedro Martinez (2-1) takes the mound for the Mets.

The Pirates begin a three-game interleague series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Pittsburgh will hand the ball to rookie righthander Jimmy Barthmaier, who is making his first career start. The Rays counter with their ace, lefthander Scott Kazmir (6-3).

It's the third postponed game for both the Yankees and Pirates this season.