The Pittsburgh Pirates and NY Yankees are playing on the MLB schedule on Sunday and the teams will play two for a doubleheader in New York at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and it's a traditional one that starts 30 minutes after the first game ends and it will be at 1:05 pm ET and past 4pm ET on the schedule as Charlie Morton, Hiroki Kuroda, Gerrit Cole and Vidal Nuno will be pitching in the two games.
The Yankees come into the game after winning 7-1 on Saturday on the strength of multiple home runs and they could use to continue that power after winning the last two against the Mets in the Subway Series and those ended up being at Citi Field after they lost at the Stadium. The Yankees have been dealing with a number of injuries as of late in the rotation and that is why the start on Saturday from David Phelps was so crucial and the team now has won three straight games. The team got home runs from likely sources in Alfonso Soriano and Brett Gardner as well as Brian McCann and Mark Tex and now they are 22-19 on the season as they come into this matchup.
The team has gotten some great pitching from Masahiro Tanaka this season and they sure have needed it and now Kuroda will be on the mound and the Yankees need to beat up on a slow starting Pirates team. The doubleheader came on Sunday instead of Saturday because of the FOX locked in game nationally and then the game on Sunday was made a quick doubleheader instead of a split because of the national night games on Sunday night and the fact that the ESPN game is supposed to be the only one on. The Yankees could get a quick sweep if they win the two games and now the team will be looking to power things again after the Friday matchup was rained out.
Cole is making his first start against the Yankees and Nuno will get another chance as CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova are all injured and they need the young pitching to step up. Phelps got his first win of the season against the Pirates and that was big for the Yankees and now the Pirates come into the game at 17-24 and Morton is looking for his first win of the season and he is 0-5 coming into the matchup against NY. The Yanks are ranked 11th in the league in runs scored to start the season while they are third in batting average and eighth in on base percentage and sixth in slugging percentage. The pitching has been up and down and the team is 23rd in the league in ERA, 24th in quality starts and 20th in BAA and they come into the game first in the AL East and they are back in that position after dropping out after losing the first two games of the Subway Series against the Mets.
Check here for the Pittsburgh Pirates and NY Yankees live coverage from MLB for the doubleheader.
