Bottom of Yankees lineup sparks red-hot offense in win over Pirates

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.PITTSBURGH — Turns out the Yankees do not need the long ball to put up a crooked number. Especially when the bottom of the order is consistently cleaning up. Already the majors’ highest-scoring offense (per game) through the first week of the season, the Yankees leaned on the depth of their lineup to pad those numbers Friday by walloping the Pirates 9-4 in a miserable home opener for the hosts at PNC Park. The Yankees’ six through nine hitters — Anthony Volpe, Trent Grisham, Jasson Dominguez and Oswaldo Cabrera — combined to go 9-for-15 with three walks, two hit-by-pitches, five runs and seven RBIs to stake out an early lead. Of course, the Yankees did not let the game end without adding to their home run total, courtesy of Aaron Judge.

The reigning AL MVP, playing in his 1,000th career game, crushed a two-run shot in the seventh inning off lefty Tim Mayza — his sixth home run in seven games this year, putting him on pace for a ridiculous 139 homers in a full season. Through seven games, the Yankees now have scored 69 runs and drilled 23 home runs, though their first seven runs Friday came without leaving the park. It was more than enough support for Max Fried, who once again was the beneficiary of an avalanche of runs, though this time he lasted long enough to pick up his first win as a Yankee.Fried was on the mound when the Yankees boat-raced the Brewers for 20 runs Saturday, but the lefty completed just 4 ²/₃ innings.

On Friday, he was much sharper, tossing 5 ²/₃ innings and allowing just one run (a solo homer by Bryan Reynolds) while striking out six. Between the Yankees pummeling them and the Pirates’ self-inflicted wounds piling up, the agitated home crowd of 36,893 spent much of the day unleashing “sell the team” chants. Judge flashed the leather early while avoiding injury on a fly bal...