Oswaldo Cabrera went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and Aaron Judge hit his sixth home run of the season to lead the New York Yankees to a 9-4 victory over the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday evening.
The Yankees put together back-to-back wins and won their first road game of the season while the Pirates continued to struggle at the plate and dropped their home opener.
Andrew McCutchen went 3-for-4 and Ke’Bryan Hayes belted a three-run home run in the seventh inning to account for most of Pittsburgh’s offense.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, Hayes’ blast came with the Yankees already ahead 9-1.
Judge pushed the Yankees’ lead to that margin with a 403-foot shot to center field, which gave him 321 career home runs in 1,000 career games.
New York’s Max Fried (1-0) had a more effective second start than his first last week, when he didn’t make it past the fifth inning. Fried pitched 5 2/3 innings Friday and allowed one earned run on six hits and one walk, striking out six.
That lone run allowed came off the bat of Bryan Reynolds, who homered on a line drive to left field in the bottom of the third to score Pittsburgh’s first run.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller (1-1) couldn’t replicate the success from his first start last week and struggled against the Yankees’ lineup. Keller ran deep counts frequently and took the loss after pitching 3 2/3 innings and allowing seven earned runs on eight hits and four walks. Keller struck out four.
Cabrera opened the scoring for the Yankees in the second with a two-run single and reached second on a fielding error, but did not score.
The Yankees added on two more in the third on Jasson Dominguez’s single and another RBI single from Cabrera.
Anthony Volpe also went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for New York.
Keller hit two batters, including one during the Yankees’ three-run fourth.
For the Yankees, Cody Bellinger sat out Friday’s game due to back stiffness and is considered day-to-day. Devin Williams returned from paternity leave and pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.
