Trent Grisham went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI to keep the New York Yankees’ hot start at the plate going during a 10-4 win over the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
The Yankees won their third in a row while the Pirates dropped back-to-back games heading into Sunday’s series finale.
Grisham’s home runs brought the Yankees’ total for the season to 25, which is the most ever by a major league team through its first eight games.
After New York’s starter Marcus Stroman labored through the fourth inning, allowing four runs, the Yankees’ lineup responded in the top of the fifth with six runs.
Grisham’s second home run was one of the big hits in the inning as he belted a three-run blast off Pirates starter Bailey Falter (0-1) to put New York ahead for good.
Falter, who threw 88 pitches, then walked Paul Goldschmidt and surrendered a single to Ben Rice, ending his outing.
Anthony Volpe went 2-for-5 and delivered the other big hit of the inning three batters later with a bases-clearing double off reliever Colin Holderman.
Falter surrendered seven runs on seven hits and one walk over four innings and struck out five.
Grisham’s first homer was a solo blast to right center to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the top of the third.
Pittsburgh answered with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of some command issues from Stroman, who walked the first two batters of the inning.
It was the most runs the Pirates have scored in an inning this season.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, who went 2-for-3, and Enmanuel Valdez each hit doubles, and Endy Rodriguez drove in a fourth run on an RBI groundout before Stroman worked his way out of the inning.
Stroman’s four runs allowed came on three hits and three walks and finished with three strikeouts on 74 pitches.
New York’s bullpen blanked the Pirates the rest of the way as Tim Hill, Mark Leiter Jr. (1-1), Fernando Cruz and Ryan Yarbrough combined to allow one hit and one walk over five scoreless innings. Yarbrough pitched the final two innings and struck out five.
