Yankees miss chance to clinch top seed in loss to Pirates

The AL East title is theirs, but the Yankees will have to wait at least one more day to secure home field advantage through the ALCS.

The Yankees went into Friday with a chance to secure home field advantage Friday, needing a win over Pittsburgh and a loss by the Guardians to Houston, but Carlos Rodon blew a two-run lead and Tommy Kahnle gave up a two-run homer to Bryan Reynolds in the eighth in a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh in The Bronx.

Their primary directive over the next week, though, is setting themselves up as well as possible for the ALDS, with Gerrit Cole set to pitch Game 1 and Rodon perhaps in Game 2.

The Yankees are still trying Jasson Dominguez out in left field, as they rested Aaron Judge, Austin Wells and Anthony Rizzo, with Alex Verdugo in right, Jose Trevino behind the plate and Trent Grisham in center.

The night got off to a promising start, as Rodon- setting a career-high with his 32nd start of the year- pitched out of trouble in the first on his way to holding the Pirates scoreless through five.

Rodon was aided by two fantastic running catches on deep fly balls to center by Grisham, both off the bat of Nick Yorke, as well as Trevino throwing out a pair of attempted base-stealers. 

The Yankees took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, sparked by a leadoff single by Trevino followed by a double from Oswaldo Cabrera.

With one out, Juan Soto was walked intentionally and Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had a hustle double in the first and made a nice defensive play on Andrew McCutchen’s chopper down the line to start the fourth, delivered a two-run single to center.

The Yankees loaded the bases later in the inning, but Verdugo popped out to center and Anthony Volpe’s rocket went right to Billy Cook in center.

And then Rodon gave the lead back in the sixth, as Nick Gonzalez and Reynolds hit back-to-back homers to start the inning.

After a scoreless seventh by Clay Holmes, Kahnle entered and allowed a leadoff single to Cook and a go-ahead homer by Reynolds.