The New York Yankees won all three of a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins. This means that they have won 11 of their 14 series so far this season, and sit atop the AL East, one game ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. These results leave the Twins in third place in the AL Central, behind both the Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals.
Both teams came into this series in excellent form, the Twins winning 17 of their last 20 games, whilst the Yankees were winners of seven in 10.
Game 1 – Twins 1-5 Yankees
Carlos Rodon (3.31 ERA) was on the mound for the Yankees, looking to continue his very solid beginning to the season. After overcoming a difficult start to the game, he produced a much-needed six-plus innings of work for manager Aaron Boone in what was a convincing win for the visitors. Giancarlo Stanton homered, whilst Alex Verdugo registered a two-run double to help the side to victory.
On the other side was Chris Paddack (4.89 ERA), who was a tough opponent having won three straight starts for the Twins. However, he struggled against a deep Yankees lineup, surrendering 12 hits, which tied his career-high in just five innings.
Paddack was attacked early, with Juan Soto singling on a line drive to center field, before advancing to a second on a fielding error by Willi Castro. The center fielder misjudged the flight of the ball, allowing it to drop in front of him, before mishandling. Soto took advantage by anticipating the mistake and making it to second safely. However, after walking Verdugo, the Twins starter was able to strand two men on base.
Ryan Jeffers was the first Twins’ hitter to the plate and he immediately put his side ahead on the second pitch he saw. It continued a hot streak for the catcher, recording his third home run in four games. A single from Carlos Correa followed, before Manuel Margot followed suit with two outs. Rodon managed to get himself out of trouble by striking out Carlos Santana.
It was an instant response from the Yankees, led by an Anthony Rizzo single to start the top of the second. Gleyber Torres got in on the action with a base-hit, before Austin Wells did the same to load the bases with no outs. Oswaldo Cabrera got his side on the board with a sacrifice-fly to score Rizzo. Anthony Volpe gave them the lead with a one-out double to send home Torres.
Rodon recovered from a shaky first inning to force two straight fly outs. He gave up a double to Austin Martin, but struck out Jeffers to preserve the lead. This one-run advantage was extended as Stanton sent one into the Twins’ bullpen for his ninth homer of the season. Both sides then pitched a scoreless inning, before the Yankees added to their tally twice more in the fourth. Soto walked for the 669th time in his career, breaking the record for the most walks by any player in history before their 26th birthday, which was held by Mickey Mantle. After two hard hit balls were caught, Aaron Judge finally got some luck as he singled on a ground ball which just eluded the glove of third baseman Jose Miranda. Verdugo then doubled on a changeup to give them a comfortable 5-1 lead.
No more runs were scored for the rest of the game, though the Twins threatened on multiple occasions to cut the deficit. Rodon picked up the win, eventually giving up just six hits and one earned run. He also struck out six and did not allow a walk. Right-hander Ian Hamilton came in as relief for two innings, allowing just one hit. Closer Clay Holmes took over in a non-save situation, but kept his ERA at 0.00, in what has been an exceptional season so far for the one-time all-star.
Game 2 – Twins 0-4 Yankees
The Yankees looked to secure the series win with Marcus Stroman taking the ball. Looking to prevent that was the impressive Pablo Lopez for the Twins. Stroman looked to put a couple of disappointing starts behind him, and he did so by pitching six scoreless innings in the shutout. However, it was the Yankees’ captain Judge who was the star of the show, producing three extra-base hits and a home run to record 11 total bases.
Lopez took the mound and retired both Volpe and Soto. This brought up Judge to the plate with two outs and he drilled the first pitch he saw 467ft into the third deck for his 11th homer of the season. In his career against the Twins, Stroman had a 1-4 record with a 5.82 ERA, so was hoping to avoid similar outings. He made the perfect start, retiring the side in order.
Offensively, the Yankees were still hot, as Torres singled on a ground ball to continue his recent improvement. He was followed by Jose Trevino and Cabrera to load the bases with one out. Castro’s woes in center field continued after his error the game before, as he thought there were three outs when he caught Volpe’s fly ball. His indecision allowed Torres to score easily when there most likely would have been a close call at home should he have thrown earlier.
Minnesota created some traffic on the bases, loading them despite not recording a hit. Correa reached on a fielding error by Volpe, before Stroman issued two walks. However, he was able to recover to get the third out. Judge’s hot start got even better with his first double. Stanton scored him with an RBI single from a broken bat, making it 3-0.
Four scoreless innings from both sides followed, as Lopez limited the damage which kept his side in the game. The Yankees squandered a number of opportunities to extend their lead further, until they took advantage of runners on base in the seventh inning. It was Judge once again, who crushed his third double of the evening to bring home Soto, the right fielder earlier enjoying his first hit and a double of his own. This is how the game ended, with Luke Weaver and Caleb Ferguson coming in as relief to complete the shutout.
Such was the Twins' dominance prior to this series, this was the first time they had lost two games in a row since a five-game losing streak between April 14 and April 19.
Game 3 – Twins 0-5 Yankees
Game three saw the Yankees look to complete the series sweep of the Twins. Clarke Schmidt was the man tasked to help them do it, with Joe Ryan on the other side hoping to pick up his third win on the season. However, it was Schmidt and the Yankees who prevailed once more, with the right-hander producing a career outing. He pitched a career-high eight innings and eight strikeouts, as the side shutout their opponents for the second game in a row. Judge continued his fantastic series, whilst Volpe and Torres also contributed greatly.
It was another first inning lead for the visitors, as Volpe hit his sixth home run of the season to start the game. This was the second leadoff homer of the young shortstop’s career, and it also extended his hitting streak to nine games. With one out, Judge walked, before Verdugo singled to center. Torres’ resurgence went on as he delivered another double to score the captain. A third run was scored as Rizzo’s ground out allowed Verdugo to reach home.
Both sides allowed no further runs, with Schmidt locking up the Twins offense. The score remained 3-0 until the sixth inning, as Wells showcased the Yankees’ deep lineup by singling on a line drive to right to score Torres. The hosts did not get an extra-base hit until the bottom of the sixth, with a Correa double, but he was left stranded. The final run of the game came in the top of the seventh, with Verdugo’s sac-fly tacking on another.
Schmidt made it past the seventh inning for the first time in his career, and did so whilst striking out his eighth batter. He pitched a final scoreless eighth inning, before Victor Gonzalez came in to take over in the ninth. The shutout meant that the Twins were held without a run for 26 innings. The only time they got on the board was the leadoff home run by Jeffers in game one. Against a red-hot Twins team and offense, this highlighted the huge improvement the Yankees lineup has made since last season. They became the first team in the American League to reach 30 wins, and in the absence of ace Gerrit Cole, they are allowing 3.31 runs per game, the fewest in MLB.
What’s Next?
The red-hot Yankees return home to face the Chicago White Sox, whilst the Twins face a tricky three-game series at the Cleveland Guardians.
