PITTSBURGH — If the New York Yankees lose the American League East by one game, or less, they only have their extended trip to Pittsburgh to blame.

Forced to travel to the Steel City for the first time since Tiltonsville’s Bill Mazeroski hit the ‘Shot Heard Around the ‘Burg’ that ended the 1960 World Series, the Bronx Bombers and Pirates split a pair of Interleague games back on June 24 and 25.

However, their matchup on June 26 was washed out after three innings with the Pinstripers holding onto a 3-1 advantage, thanks to an early jump of Bucco lefty Paul Maholm.

The contest was rescheduled for Thursday night (exactly two weeks to the day) at PNC Park where a sold-out crowd watched their Black-and-Gold give away a 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh, only to take it back again in the home half of the frame on Nate McLouth’s 2-run bomb over the Clemente Wall in right field.

Oh, Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi must be wondering ‘what if Mother Nature hadn’t intervened two weeks ago.’

Admittedly, I’m not a Yankee fan, but the New Yorkers are locked in a three-team battle with surprising front-runner Tampa Bay and hated-rival Boston that will more than likely go down to the final week of the greuling six-month schedule, possibly the final day … or even to a playoff!

It’s happened before.

The Rays, who have improved drastically after dropping the dreaded ‘Devils’ from their nickname, lead the BoSox by 1.5 games and the Yanks by five more than that.

Maholm, the southpaw who is quickly becoming the Pirates’ ace on the mound, must have learned a thing or two from the previous start, albeit it an abbreviated one.

He seemed to breezing along until possibly tiring in the seventh when the American Leaguers finally broke through to draw even.

North can be reached at knorth@timesleaderonline.com