Greg Bird’s 2 homer day led the Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins to pull off the sweep at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The winning pitcher for the Yankees was Nathan Eovaldi who improves to 13-2. The losing pitcher was Ervin Santana who falls to 2-4. Nathan Eovaldi had a perfect game through 5.2. Dellin Betances and Nathan Eovaldi both got their 100th strikeouts of the season, in this game. Dellin Betances got his 8th save of the season locking up this one for the Yankees. The Yankees improve to 67-52 after the win and the Twins fall to 59-61.The Yankees have now won 6 of their last 7 games.
The Yankees got on the board first with Greg Bird’s first of two homers on the day in the 4th inning, scoring Carlos Beltran. The Twins broke through in the 6th when Joe Mauer singled to right scoring Chris Herrmann and Shane Robinson to tie it at 2. 2 batters later Trevor Plouffe hit an infield single, which scored Brian Dozier. The Yankees took the lead with Greg Bird’s 2nd homer of the day scoring Carlos Beltran to take a 4-3 lead. Greg Bird is the first Yankee to hit his first 2 career home runs on the same day since Jesus Montero did it in 2011.
After the game Joe Girardi talked about Greg Bird and one of the best players in baseball Miguel Cabrera, “This is a big comparison and I'm not saying this is what my expectation is, but Miguel Cabrera had a slow clock and really had an understanding of what he wanted to do. And I think Greg Bird has an understanding of who he is and what he wants to do.” Losing pitcher Ervin Santana talked about Greg Bird’s second homer today, saying “I know probably in another park that’s a double here, it’s a joke.” He was talking about the Yankees distance between home and the right field wall, as the ball landed in the Yankees bullpen.
In terms of the AL East standings with the win the Yankees extend their AL East lead to 1.5 games over the Blue Jays. The Toronto Blue Jays go up against the Phillies tonight at Citizens Bank Park, with Mark Buherle going up for the Jays. The Phillies have Adam Morgan going tonight. Dellin Betances’ 100th strikeout this afternoon makes him the first Yankee reliever in history to get 100 strikeouts in back to back seasons, according to the Yankees official Twitter account.
The Twins get back at it tomorrow in Baltimore when they send Tyler Duffey to the mound to face Miguel Gonzalez. Tomorrow the Yankees welcome the Cleveland Indians to Yankee Stadium with Ivan Nova going up against Josh Tomlin in the first game of the series.
