Yankees 5, Twins 2, and for the first time in eight days, this club remembered how to close one out.
Six straight losses had piled up before Friday night -- three in a row in Boston, then an ugly home sweep at the hands of Detroit -- and the New York Yankees looked like a team that needed one big swing to remember who they were. Ben Rice gave them exactly that, a two-run blast off Mike Paredes in the third that turned a coin-flip game into a laugher, and Gerrit Cole did the rest.
The Third Inning Got Loud
Minnesota came out swinging. Kody Clemens led off the game with a 403-foot moon shot to left-center off Cole, the kind of blast that makes a Friday night crowd go quiet fast. Trent Grisham answered two batters into the bottom half with a leadoff shot of his own -- 370 feet the other way -- and just like that it was 1-1 before either bullpen had thrown a single pitch.
A 53-minute rain delay hit after the top of the third, the tie score sitting there the whole time waiting to break. It broke fast. Rice came up in the bottom of the third once play resumed, worked the count full against Paredes, and turned on one -- 357 feet out to right, with Grisham already in front of him. Yankees 3, Twins 1. It was the single biggest swing of the night by win probability (plus-21.1 percent, for whoever's counting), and the game never really felt tied again after that.
Minnesota clawed one back in the fourth -- Clemens doubled, then scored on a Victor Caratini single -- but that was as close as it got.
Rice, Rice, Baby
Ben Rice went 1-for-3 with a walk, two RBIs, and the home run that decided the game. That's the line. The two-run shot in the third is the one that shows up in the box score forever, but it's worth saying twice: no other at-bat in this game moved the needle more.
Grisham had the flashier overall night on paper -- a leadoff homer and a sacrifice fly, two runs, two RBIs of his own -- but Rice's homer is the one that put the Yankees ahead for good, and that's the tiebreaker that matters.
Cole Did His Job, the Pen Did the Rest
Cole wasn't perfect. Clemens tagged him for that leadoff shot, and he gave up the run in the fourth on the Caratini single. But five innings, five hits, seven strikeouts, and zero walks got this team to its bullpen with a lead intact, and Cole's now 3-3 on the year (for whatever pitcher wins are worth these days, which is not much, but it beats the alternative).
From there, Paul Blackburn, Brent Headrick, Fernando Cruz and David Bednar combined for four scoreless innings, allowing exactly one hit. Bednar struck out the side in the ninth for his 17th save, which says plenty about how good he's been out there lately.
Two-Out Insurance in the Seventh
The Yankees weren't done padding the lead. Jose Caballero -- Cabby, per the @Yankees copy desk -- lined a single to center in the seventh to score Ryan McMahon and make it 4-2. Grisham followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home Caballero, and suddenly a one-run cushion looked a lot more like a three-run one.
Those two runs didn't feel necessary in the moment. They will if this bullpen ever has an off night.
The Yankees had the graphic ready before the last out even settled.
Six losses in a row doesn't erase itself in one night. But the Yankees are 50-38 now, still second in the AL East, and they get two more cracks at Minnesota this weekend to keep it going.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
