Series Recap: It Would Have Been Sweep
The Twins have always been the best medicine for the Yankees. Throughout the years, in the regular season and Postseason, the Twins have been the Yankees’ personal punching bag. This series appeared to be a continuation of that trend — that is, until the final inning.
The Yankees arrived in Minneapolis after failing to take a single game against the arch-rival Red Sox. Frustration, anger, and desperation reeked throughout Yankees Twitter. But with the Twins upcoming, there was hope. The Yankees fell behind in the first game, but ultimately won handily. Then, the Bombers dominated in game two. With just three outs to go and a sweep on the horizon, misfortune reared its ugly head once again.
Somehow, winning a series even feels like a loss for the 2021 Yankees. Baseball is a long season, so it is important to not let the highs get too high or the lows too low. But with this Yankees club, the low points never subside.
Game 1 (Yankees 8, Twins 4)
Nestor Cortes Jr. was warming up in the Yankees’ bullpen during the first inning of this game. That is how things started for Jordan Montgomery and the Yanks. Gumby immediately put the Yanks in a 2-0 hole. Monty settled down and got his first 1-2-3 inning in the 4th frame. With the Yankees still down 2-0, the game was not out of hand, but the offense needed to pick the team up.
The way the Yankees did so was unconventional. A bases loaded walk, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly, and two fielder’s choice errors resulted in a 5-3 Yankees lead.
Of course, there was also a great defensive play by Gio Urshela during the middle innings.
The 2021 Yankees need to take any run they can, so offense finally taking advantage of defensive miscues and pitching inaccuracy was a welcome sight. If you score in difficult ways enough times, the easy runs will follow. That is what happened here.
Gary Sánchez and Miguel Andújar each hit dingers to left field to open the game up and give the Bombers some needed breathing room. The Yankees pulled off the win 8-4 and snapped a 4-game losing streak.
Yankee of the Day: Gary Sánchez (3): 2 for 5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Game 2 (Yankees 9, Twins 6)
If you are a casual baseball fan, you probably tuned in for this game. Why would a game between the Twins and Yankees in early June be worth your time? Well, there were a few reasons.
Twins’ veteran third baseman Josh Donaldson recently said he was going to call out pitchers for using ‘sticky substances’ on the baseball. Well, he only named Gerrit Cole and referred to Cole’s drop in spin rate last start after Major League Baseball announced the suspension of a few minor leaguers for using illegal substances to grip the baseball. When asked about Donaldson’s comments, Cole was clearly unhappy.
Prior to the Minnesota series, Cole was once again asked about the use of sticky substances. This time he was flat out asked by Ken Davidoff whether he used Spider Tack at any point. Cole skirted around the yes-or-no aspect of the question and the baseball world had a social media meltdown.
Anyways, all eyes were on Cole and Donaldson for this game, and Cole certainly got the better of the matchup.
Donaldson ultimately went 0 for 3 with the 2 strikeouts against Cole. You can tell the Yankees’ ace had a little extra juice for JD, as 4 of Cole’s 8 fastest pitches of the start occurred against the Twins’ righty. Cole’s fastball averaged 98.2 mph on the night, about a tick higher than usual.
The Yankees scored their runs by muscling the baseball out and around the yard all night. It started early, as Aaron Judge tagged one in the first inning.
A single by Kyle Higashioka and double by Brett Gardner got the second run across.
Giancarlo Stanton made his presence known by annihilating a 3-run home run over the batter’s eye in center field.
Cole got clipped by Jorge Polanco to make the score 5-1 in favor of New York.
Then, Giancarlo Stanton shook the earth with another blast. When G is hot, boy is he hot.
Speaking of hot, Miguel Andújar destroyed another baseball as he renovates his season stat line.
Miguel Sanó made the score 8-2 by hitting an opposite field homer. Its significance in the game was minute, but it did change Cole’s line from dominant-looking to just a solid outing.
However, Cole racked up 9 strikeouts and moved through the Twins’ lineup with ease. Check out this highlight reel of sit ‘em downs.
Eventually, the Twins scored a bunch of runs off of Brooks Kriske to make the final score 9-6, but who really cares about that. In fact, this was the first win in which the Yankees’ opponent scored 5 or more runs, so maybe it was not such a bad thing.
Yankee of the Day: Giancarlo Stanton (6): 3 for 5, 2 HR, 2B, 2 R, 5 RBI.
Game 3 (Yankees 5, Twins 7)
With the sweep on their mind, the Yankees faced off against their former teammate, J.A. Happ. The Bombers lined up 9 right-handed hitters for Happ, who had trouble getting outs.
The Yankees jumped out to a comfortable 4-1 lead thanks to homers by Stanton and Gio. Every now and then, Gio absolutely turns on a ball and crushes it to left field and I get a little surprised. That is exactly what happened here.
Later on, Chris Gittens, who is vying for his first career major league hit and home run, nearly achieved both feats on one swing. Instead, the originally called home run was taken back and ruled a foul ball after replay review.
A single by D.J. LeMahieu knocked in a run and the Yankees led 5-2.
The Twins crept closer to the Yankees, who had a 5-3 lead when Miguel Andújar showed off his arm in left field for the third series in a row.
Aroldis Chapman and his 0.39 ERA took the mound in the 9th inning with a save opportunity at hand. What happened next was unpredictable, unthinkable, and crushing.
Josh Donaldson blasted a 2-run game-tying homer. Two batters later, Nelson Cruz smashed a walk-off 2-run bomb. The sluggers to watch made it the first time Chapman surrendered two home runs in one appearance since 2016, also against the Twins.
Yankee of the Day: Gio Urshela (5): 2 for 4, HR, 3B, R, RBI.
Series Talking Points
Gerrit Cole Shoves After Press Conference: Gerrit Cole brought it to Josh Donaldson’s door step on Wednesday night. Most who often watch Cole did not expect him to throw at Donaldson, although there was speculation on whether or not that would occur. Instead, Cole took the high road with a great quote after the game. Donaldson is now 0 for 9 with 5 strikeouts against Cole in his career.
Game 3 Blowup: Aroldis Chapman had a rare meltdown in the ninth inning of the final game. With the series sweep in the clutch of their hands, the Yankees end up taking just two of three against the last place Twins. The home runs themselves are worrisome, but the fact that Chapman was only throwing 95-96 mph is of greater concern in my opinion. Chapman’s dominance this season has been predicated on high velocity fastballs with perfectly located breaking pitches. However, Chapman does not seem to be worried, so hopefully this does not become a normal thing moving forward.
Photo Via: @_thecubanmissile54 Instagram.Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 4 for 15 (.267 AVG), 0 BB (.267 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K (.600 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: 6 for 15 (.400 AVG), 0 BB (.400 OBP), 3 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 3 K (1.467 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Judge: 3 for 13 (.231 AVG), 1 BB (.286 OBP), 3 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K (.824 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 5 for 12 (.417 AVG), 1 BB (.462 OBP), 3 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (1.295 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 5 for 13 (.385 AVG), 2 BB (.467 OBP), 3 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 K (.851 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 3 for 9 (.333 AVG), 0 BB (.333 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K (1.000 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 1 for 5 (.200 AVG), 0 BB (.200 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.400 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 4 for 7 (.571 AVG), 1 BB (.556 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 K (1.413 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 2 for 5 (.400 AVG), 0 BB (.400 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.800 OPS), 0 SB
Chris Gittens: 0 for 5 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Miguel Andújar: 6 for 11 (.545 AVG), 2 BB (.571 OBP), 5 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 0 K (1.091 OPS), 0 SB
Rougned Odor: 2 for 8 (.250 AVG), 0 BB (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.750 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 0 for 2 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Pitching
Jordan Montgomery: 5.2 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 6 Ks, 4.76 ERA
Gerrit Cole: 6 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 HR, 9 Ks, W, 3.00 ERA
Michael King: 3.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, 4.91 ERA
Brooks Kriske: 1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 0 Ks, 36.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: 1.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 10.80 ERA
Luis Cessa: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 0.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Jonathan Loáisiga: 3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Chad Green: 2.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 0 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 HR, 0 Ks, INF ERA
Nestor Cortes Jr.: No appearances.
Jameson Taillon: No appearances.
Domingo Germán: No appearances.