Yankees 8, Twins 3, and it took one inning to turn a quiet road game into a laugher.
After the Twins grabbed a 2-1 lead in the sixth, this looked like the kind of game the Yankees have been dropping all September -- a good start going to waste, a one-run deficit that wouldn't budge. Then the eighth inning happened, and by the time it ended the Twins' bullpen was smoking.
The Turning Point
Down 1-2 entering the eighth, George Lombard Jr. doubled and Ryan McMahon singled off Andrew Morris to get it going. Jose Caballero -- who'd already gone deep once -- lined a one-out single to tie it.
Then A.J. Minter came in and made things much, much worse for Minnesota.
Ben Rice singled home two to put the Yankees ahead. Two batters later, Aaron Judge hit one out to left field for three more.
Six runs, one inning, a 1-2 deficit turned into a 7-2 laugher. Morris took the loss and the blown save (his 6th of the year); Minter surrendered the Judge homer and looked like a man who wanted to be anywhere else.
Star of the Game
Give it to Caballero. Two hits, a homer, two RBI, two runs scored, and the one-out single that got the eighth-inning rally started before Rice and Judge blew it open (he added a stolen base too, because why not).
His night started in the third with a solo shot off Dean Kremer that stood as the only run of the game until the Twins broke through in the sixth. Every account of a Jose Caballero performance eventually has to admit the same thing: he doesn't hit for huge power, but when he connects it tends to matter.
Key At-Bats and Pitching Lines
Will Warren deserved better than a 1-2 deficit to hand off. Five and two-thirds, zero earned runs, six strikeouts, 92 pitches -- and he left trailing anyway. With two outs already in the sixth, Kody Clemens reached on a Ryan McMahon fielding error, Josh Bell singled him to third, and Emmanuel Rodriguez tripled them both home. That's baseball (specifically, that's Yankees baseball in September).
Tim Hill relieved with two outs in the seventh and was still out there when the Yankees scored six in the top of the eighth, which made him the pitcher of record once the lead held up. He gave part of it right back -- Bell hit a solo homer off him in the bottom of the eighth, his 20th of the year -- but the lead never actually went away, so Hill (5-2) got the win anyway. John Schreiber cleaned up the eighth and worked a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Austin Wells added an exclamation point in the top of the ninth, a solo shot off Tommy Nance that made it 8-3 and made the Twins' bottom-of-the-ninth rally attempt (a walk, a fielder's choice, a double play) feel like a formality.
A Word on the Twins' Bullpen
Minnesota's manager went to Morris to hold a one-run lead in the eighth, and he didn't get out of the inning. Then Minter came in with two on and made it worse, facing three batters -- Rice, Bellinger, Judge -- and getting zero outs, three runs, and a homer for his trouble. Two relievers, one third of an inning, six runs. That's the kind of eighth inning that ends a series before it starts, not just a game.
Looking Ahead
That's back-to-back wins now, 87-63, still 3.5 back of Tampa Bay with time running out to close the gap. Game 2 of this series is Tuesday, same building, and the way this offense is hitting in the late innings, Minnesota should probably be worried about more than the eighth inning.
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.
