Pirates may regret overlooking obvious answer to their lefty problem

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ lineup Sunday afternoon looked like the kind of lineup built with the sole purpose of making people angry.

Jared Triolo leading off. Nick Yorke, Billy Cook and Henry Davis occupying the bottom three spots, all carrying batting averages below .200. Against Red Sox left-hander Patrick Sandoval, manager Don Kelly essentially emptied the bench and rearranged everything.

Fans and media members alike predictably questioned it before first pitch. Then that lineup went out and scored seven runs in the first three innings. Off of a lefty, no less. Funny how that works.

Pirates get last laugh as lineup full of bench players tees off vs Red Sox

Pittsburgh’s 8-3 win over Boston snapped a streak of seven consecutive series losses, but it also might have exposed something more frustrating. The Pirates have spent much of the season searching for answers against left-handed pitching. Perhaps one of those answers has been sitting within the organization all along.

Nick Yorke delivered two hits and a career-high three RBI. His two-run single highlighted Pittsburgh’s five-run third inning, and he added another RBI single in the seventh. Not bad for a guy whose flight from Triple-A Indianapolis landed in Pittsburgh an hour and a half before first pitch.

The Pirates desperately needed something different against lefties. Before the Boston series, they had lost seven of their previous eight games against left-handed starting pitchers. Sunday offered a pretty compelling argument that Yorke deserves an extended opportunity to help change that.

Boston selected Yorke in the first round of the 2020 draft, and Pittsburgh acquired him for Quinn Priester with the belief that there was legitimate offensive upside worth pursuing. Yet the Pirates have spent much of this season cycling through lineup combinations while Yorke remained in Indianapolis.

His broken middle finger complicated matters recently, of course. But now that he is healthy enough to play, there shouldn’t be much debate about what comes next. Play him.

Sunday wasn’t proof that Yorke has suddenly solved everything. One game against one left-handed pitcher shouldn't outweigh an entire season, and Pittsburgh still needs far more consistent offensive production throughout its roster. But the Pirates are running out of reasons not to find out what Yorke can provide.

The supposedly questionable Sunday lineup produced nine hits and seven runs in three innings against Sandoval. Esmerlyn Valdez doubled twice. Bryan Reynolds and Brandon Lowe delivered run-scoring hits. And Yorke, hours removed from stepping off an airplane, supplied one of the biggest swings of the afternoon.

For months, Pittsburgh has searched for ways to become less vulnerable against left-handed pitching. Maybe the answer didn't require a trade or some elaborate lineup experiment. Maybe it just required giving Yorke and the rest of the bench a real chance.

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