Do-over dooms Yankees
PITTSBURGH — Many pitchers wish they could redo a start against the New York Yankees. Paul Maholm did, and couldn't have been much happier with the result.
Nate McLouth got a second chance after messing up a bunt attempt, and it turned out much better, too.
McLouth hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh and Maholm allowed two runs over eight innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied to beat the Yankees 4-2 on Thursday night.
The last game of interleague play this season was the makeup of a June 26 rainout, only with a much different result for Maholm (6-5). Then, he gave up extra-base hits to the first four batters as the Yankees went 5-of-12 while taking a 3-0 lead against the left-hander, only to have the statistics wiped out by a heavy rain.
Given a chance to replay that start — his turn in the rotation coincidentally fell on the makeup date — Maholm got 17 of his 24 outs by ground balls or strikeouts. He gave up seven hits and walked one while lasting eight innings for a second successive start.
"When that game was rained out, everything got wiped away and I could concentrate on the Reds and Brewers after that and I was able to throw good against them," said Maholm, 4-0 in his last eight starts. "To come back in against these guys and their stacked lineup, I had the confidence to mix pitches and just go after them and not worry about who's in the box."
Maholm had a five-hit shutout going with two outs and none on in the seventh before the Yankees tied it on Bobby Abreu's two-run single. After McLouth hit his 18th homer to put Pittsburgh back into the lead, Maholm came back with a scoreless eighth.
"That homer was a big relief for me," Maholm said.
Damaso Marte finished for his fourth save in six opportunities, helping end New York's five-game winning streak.
"When we made good contact, it was right at somebody," Abreu said. "We had no luck. But he pitched a pretty good game."
The Pirates won two of three from the Yankees in interleague play, their first two victories against them since the 1960 World Series and a turnaround from past interleague results. The Yankees, 10-8 against the NL this season, are a major league-best 123-87 since interleague play began in 1997 and the Pirates, 6-9 this year against the AL, own the worst record at 63-103.
Despite the Yankees' loss, the AL topped the NL in interleague play for a fifth consecutive season, going 149-103.
Jack Wilson, who doubled and singled against Mike Mussina in his first two-bats as Pittsburgh's No. 9 hitter, walked ahead of McLouth's drive into the right-field seats on a 0-1 pitch by reliever Jose Veras (2-1).
McLouth unsuccessfully tried to bunt on Veras' first pitch, only to homer on the second.
"I messed up the bunt the pitch before and, luckily, got a pitch to hit the next pitch and didn't miss it," said McLouth, who is hitting .333 since being named the Pirates' lone All-Star. "The inning before, they mounted a rally and tied the game up and looked to have momentum on their side, so to take it back was big."
McLouth also set up the Pirates' run in the fifth by reaching on a force play, stealing second and moving to third on catcher Jose Molina's throwing error.
Freddy Sanchez, the 2006 NL batting champion who came into the game hitting .226, drove in the Pirates' first two runs with an RBI single following Wilson's double in the third and a sacrifice fly two innings later.
Mussina didn't figure in the decision, failing to get 12 victories before the All-Star break for the first time since he was 12-3 in 2002. He gave up nine hits and two runs in six innings, lasting at least six for the eighth consecutive start.
