“Nobody wants to win anymore.” That was the only slightly hyperbolic thought that entered my mind as the Yankees and Twins engaged in an utter slog, the first act of which took the form of a normal Yankee loss. The Bombers trailed Minnesota 2-0 entering the ninth inning, before a heroic two-run double from Anthony Volpe brought everything back to square one. Volpe’s hit was a rousing moment—but friends, the torment was only beginning.
The Yankees took a pair of flimsy one-run leads in the 10th and
11th innings, and quickly blew them both. They then loaded the bases with nobody out in the 12th, and failed to score. In the 13th, they went down quietly, and the Twins won 5-4 on a misplayed ground ball by George Lombard Jr.
It almost feels like an afterthought now, but Aaron Judge left this game in the sixth inning with what was described as “lower right leg tightness.” Stay tuned for more updates on the Captain’s status as the Yankees prepare to fly to the desert.
If Carlos Rodón wanted to complete six or more innings for the second straight start, he would need to regroup from a busy first inning, in which he threw 24 pitches and surrendered the opening run on a single by veteran Josh Bell. The rally was catalyzed by leadoff man Luke Keaschall, who worked back from 0-2 down to slap a single. He then scored from second on Bell’s hit, though Cody Bellinger’s throw from left field nearly nabbed him at the dish.
Meanwhile, the young righty Zebby Matthews had Yankees hitters in a blender with his fastball-slider combo. He worked five spotless innings against New York, whose best opportunity to that point came in the third. Aaron Judge, after striking out in the first, came back up with two on and two out, but swung through Matthews’ fastball to retire the side. On the opening pitch of the at-bat, Judge checked his swing and appeared to grimace afterward. He struck out, played the field for the next few innings, then exited the game before his next at-bat. More on that later.
The Twins tacked on in the fifth. Second baseman Ryan Kreidler ambushed Rodón on his first pitch of the inning and sent it hurtling out to the seats in left for a 2-0 Minnesota lead. A double from rookie Ben Ross gave them another opportunity to add to their lead, but the Yanks forced him out between third and home. Then García made another fine play, sprawling to the ground and picking a sharp ground ball to retire the side.
The sixth inning brought the bad omen of Heliot Ramos entering off the bench to hit for Judge. At this point, we’re well past the point where an early exit from the game is normal. As anxiety mounted about the status of the Captain, Zebby Matthews completed yet another scoreless inning.
Rodón rallied to complete those six innings; they certainly weren’t the cleanest he’s ever tossed. Aaron Boone paid him a visit with one out in the sixth, but Carlos lobbied to stay in, and the skipper listened. He induced a flyout from Royce Lewis, then struck out Rodriguez to finish his day. He threw a season-high 102 pitches, striking out five and working around four hits and three walks. His season ERA is 2.95.
Clarke Schmidt made his long awaited return to the Majors in the seventh. He struck out Kreidler to begin his relief outing, then surrendered a pair of singles to get in a jam. He fell behind Austin Martin 3-0, but rallied to punch him out even as a double steal put two runners in scoring position. Boone took him out to keep him from throwing too many high-stress pitches in his first game back, and Brent Headrick got the final out to keep any runs from landing on his tab. His slider wasn’t obeying, but there were plenty of positive signs too. I’m looking forward to seeing more from Clarke in the Arizona series.
The Yankees got a late rally going in the eighth inning, loading the bases for Luis García Jr. with two outs against A.J. Minter. The veteran lefty reliever prevailed, however, striking García out with a high fastball to waste what appeared to be New York’s best shot to come back.
Following that missed opportunity, we learned the reason for Judge’s exit: right lower leg tightness. To my ear, that sounds like an ailment that shouldn’t result in a return to the injured list—but the Yankees are being understandably cautious with their franchise player. We’ll have more as additional information emerges.
Old friend Yoendrys Gómez entered in the ninth to close the Yankees out, and met more resistance. George Lombard Jr. poked a single with one out, then Paul Goldschmidt followed with a hit of his own. He exited for pinch runner José Caballero, putting plenty of speed on the bases and setting the table for Volpe. The Jersey boy played hero in Twinkie Town, blasting a ball off the high wall in right center field to score both runners and tie the game with New York down to their final out.
Volpe definitely thought he’d hit it out—and indeed it would have left Yankee Stadium comfortably—but it stood as a two-run double. Bellinger was unable to extend the rally which might have brought the Fox home, so it was up to Paul Blackburn to hold up his end and give the Bombers a chance to complete the sweep in extras. Blackburn obliged, and we went to the 10th. Little did we know Volpe’s big knock would condemn us to an interminable sequence of baseball, which Ramos began the inning with a swinging bunt to advance Bellinger, the Manfred man, to third. Then, of all people, Ali Sánchez came up in the cleanup spot and swatted a single past a drawn-in infield to bring Bellinger home and give the Yankees their first lead of the day. However, they failed to add on more runs—giving the Twins a chance to immediately respond.
And respond they did, as the pesky Keaschall singled off David Bednar to tie the game right back up. As another opening graf for this recap was unceremoniously mothballed, Bednar rebounded to strike out Ryan Jeffers and induce a twin killing from Bell.
The Bombers again only managed one tally in the 11th on a Caballero sacrifice fly, before Lewis decided two could play at that game and popped a sac fly of his own to even it back up at 4. Bednar refused to let this extremely-cool-and-good-extra-innings-ping-pong-match-that-everybody-loved-watching end, sentencing us to the 12th inning with a strikeout of Kreidler.
And suffering was indeed on the menu. The Yankees found a way to load the bases with nobody out—the kind of scenario where they might grab more than one run. A novel concept, I know. But Ramos, who I remind you was hitting in Judge’s spot, tapped into an elusive 1-2-3 double play. Some players just find a way. Sánchez was not about to play hero—he struck out to strand two runners in scoring position.
If you thought that was embarrassing, though, don’t worry. The Twins didn’t want to win either. Kreidler got himself picked off at second by John Schreiber, then Keaschall rolled into a 6-4-3 DP. I sure hope you wanted another inning of this!
There was only one more inning of whatever-this-was coming, mercifully. The Yankees failed to bring Sánchez home from second in the top of the 13th, then the game ended in one of the only way it could have ended: a bad misplay on defense. Veteran Victor Caratini came up in a pinch-hit spot and tapped a grounder off the mound toward second base. Lombard misjudged the hop and let the ball slip past him and into center field, scoring the winning run at long last. An ugly end to an ugly game, as the Yankees let the sweep slip away.
Thankfully, the Yankees have the day off tomorrow. That’ll be good news for this pitching staff, which had to run a marathon to keep them in it. Then on Friday night, the Yankees will open up a three-game weekend series against the Diamondbacks. Gerrit Cole will get the ball for a 9:40 p.m. first pitch on YES.
Box Score
