Tommy Pham's walk-off single helps Pirates avoid sweep

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — The Pirates found a way to win, but they certainly found a way to turn a game on cruise control into a nailbiter.

Tommy Pham hit a walk-off single off Devin Williams in the 11th inning, scoring Jack Suwinski for a 5-4 Pirates win against the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. The team mobbed Pham behind second base, celebrating a much-needed win.

Pham’s hit was only needed because of a disastrous ninth inning from Ryan Borucki. Up 4-1, Borucki twice got the Yankees down to their last strike, only to allow an RBI double from Oswald Peraza and a two-run single from Trent Grisham to tie it. Chase Shugart, promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis on Sunday morning, got the final out to keep the game tied.

Borucki’s meltdown spoiled a much-needed excellent PNC Park debut from Andrew Heaney, pitching in the ballpark for the first time in his 12-year MLB career. Heaney allowed just one run over seven innings, scattering five hits and a walk and striking out 10.

The Pirates needed Heaney’s outing badly. Their bullpen has been taxed throughout their 3-7 start, with veteran relievers struggling and few trusted options. Dennis Santana pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, retiring the top of the Yankee lineup. After Borucki, fellow lefties Shugart, Caleb Ferguson and Joey Wentz kept the Yankees from taking a lead.

Heaney’s performance meant yet another four-run offensive performance, seemed for a long time like it would be enough for a win. The Pirates started slow against Yankees starter Will Warren, who entered with a career 9.11 ERA. After eight consecutive outs to start the game, No. 9 hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa worked a walk, third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes singled to left field and designated hitter Bryan Reynolds scored them both with a double off the center field wall.

The Pirates added two more in the fourth. With one out, first baseman Enmanuel Valdez tripled to center field, then Pham scored him on a sacrifice fly. Second baseman Adam Frazier hit a two-out single, then scored on a double from Kiner-Falefa.

After appearing briefly midgame, the hitting did disappear late. The Pirates did not have a hit from the fourth inning onward until Pham’s hit in the 11th.

The game was over when …

The game never felt over, even when Borucki had the Yankees down to their last strike up three runs. But Pham’s hit sent fans home happy.

On the mound

Heaney was excellent, with a Cody Bellinger single and a Jazz Chisholm Jr. double in the first inning scoring the only run. Santana induced two weak flyouts before Aaron Judge hit a fly ball to the warning track, but it was caught without issue. After Borucki and Shugart combined for the ninth, both Ferguson and Wentz did well to pitch around traffic in extra innings and strand several Yankee runners.

At the plate

The Pirates scored five runs on seven hits, leaving nine runners on base. They struck out 12 times.

Kiner-Falefa and Hayes were the only hitters to reach base multiple times, as Hayes added a walk in the seventh inning. It wasn’t exactly an offensive explosion, but the Pirates came up with a few timely hits when they needed them to score five runs, their highest output of the season.

Most valuable player

Heaney was the clear most valuable player, producing the type of outing the Pirates envisaged when they signed him in the offseason.

Up next

The Pirates begin a three-game series with the Cardinals (4-4) on Monday evening, with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET. Carmen Mlodzinski (0-1, 9.82 ERA) will make his second start of the season for the Pirates, while Matthew Liberatore (0-0, 4.50) throws for St. Louis.

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