2000 Diary, July 29: Bullpen squanders Clemens’ effort

Set Number: X60652 TK1 R2 F19

After dropping the first of four games at the Metrodome, the Yankees bounced back nicely, taking game two thanks to a spirited ninth-inning rally. Winners of five of six and overall playing some excellent baseball, the Yankees had a chance to keep the good times rolling, sending out their ace against a sub-.500 Twins squad. Instead, it was the subpar Twins who pitched impeccably, and took advantage of a bullpen blow-up from the Yankees to take the upper hand in the series.

July 29: Yankees 2, Twins

6 (box score)

Record: 55-44 (1st in AL East, 2.5 games ahead)

Eric Milton and Roger Clemens stepped to the mound as the starters for their respective clubs, and they both found themselves perfect through the first inning. Milton diced through the Yankees in the top of the second, and the first threat on either side came in bottom half of the second against Clemens.

Two straight walks — one to David Ortiz and the other to Corey Koskie — put two men on base after the leadoff man grounded out and before The Rocket struck out Torii Hunter to make it two on and two out. A third walk in the inning loaded the bases, but another swinging strikeout helped Clemens avoid damage on the scoreboard.

But the Yankees’ bats were quiet. Though Clemens worked around a few baserunners, Milton had very little trouble, taking a no-hitter over halfway through against the team that drafted him out of the University of Maryland back in 1996 before trading him for Chuck Knoblauch. It took until the sixth inning before New York struck.

Ryan Thompson walked to lead off the inning before Clay Bellinger interfered with the Twins catcher Chad Moeller, forcing an out and bringing up José Vizcaíno. The leadoff hitter singled to center for the first hit of the ball game for the visitors, and Derek Jeter followed with a single to right, scoring the first run of the game and putting Vizcaíno at third with only one out. Paul O’Neill, on the third pitch of his at-bat, followed that up by sending a flyball to center, bringing in Vizcaíno and scoring another run on a sacrifice fly to put the Yankees up 2-0.

Though Clemens didn’t seem to have his best stuff, issuing five walks on the night, he did his best to make the lead stand up. He worked through seven innings without allowing a run, Joe Torre pulling him after 109 pitches.

Torre went to Mike Stanton for the bottom of the eighth inning, but Stanton’s leash was short. After sandwiching a flyball out between a single and a double, Torre had had enough and brought in Ramiro Mendoza to try to clean up the mess, but Mendoza gave up a walk to the first batter he faced, loading the bases. Midre Cummings struck out swinging, putting the Yankees on the brink of getting out of another bases-loaded jam. However, Mendoza wasn’t able to capitalize, giving up a two-out, two-run single to Jacque Jones, and the game was tied at two.

Unfortunately for the Bombers, the two-out rally continued. The next batter, Moeller, saw four pitches with runners on the corners before taking a hack and sending a liner to left field. Thompson went for it rather than focusing on keeping the ball in front of him, and it bounced by Thompson, rolling all the way to the wall.

Williams struggled to pick up the ball initially, and the deceptively speedy Moeller had made it to third base by the time the Yankees center fielder had made it to left field as the backup. The cutoff throw was offline, and Moeller stepped on home plate with a three-run inside-the-park home run, putting the Twins up 5-2.

Mendoza allowed another double, prompting Joe Torre to bring in Jeff Nelson, but that move was short-lived as well, as Nelson walked one batter and was pulled for Randy Choate, who also walked a batter to load the bases. He issued a second walk in a row to force in the sixth run of the inning, before Jason Grimsley came in to finally record the last out of the frame.

Milton pitched exceptionally for Minnesota outside of the sixth, working through the eighth while allowing just two runs. From there, the Twins turned it over to LaTroy Hawkins, who worked an uneventful one-two-three ninth to secure the win. The Yankees finished with deuces wild, with two runs, hits, and errors across their score line. That’s not a recipe for success, though their lead in the AL East stayed at 2.5 games with the Red Sox and Blue Jays taking losses on the West Coast.

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Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.

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