The Yankees own the Twins. This is not news; this is a basic fact of life and something most baseball fans are aware of. Since 2002, the Yankees have a ridiculous 130-48 record against the Twins since 2002, a .730 winning percentage. That’s a 118-win pace, which means that the Yankees against the Twins for the last quarter-century are the best team the sport has ever seen.
After losing two of three in the Bronx during the brief summer swoon in early July, the Yankees were in serious danger of dropping the season series to Minnesota for just the second time since 2001 (2023, of course), but have secured at least a split with two wins at Target Field this week, the first of which ensured that the Twins would not win three consecutive games in this series for the first time in 35 years. The Yankees are now 61-27 against the Twins on the road since 2002.
Ok, enough messing with the Twins. The Yankees did what they were supposed to do today, riding home runs by Cody Bellinger and Spencer Jones and a sensational start by Max Fried to a safe 8-1 victory in Minneapolis on Tuesday night. The three outfielders, Bellinger, Jones, and Heliot Ramos (Judge had the day off), combined to go 6-for-13 with two home runs, six RBI, and two walks.
This game started on the right note for the offense. After being flummoxed by Dean Kremer the night before, they immediately jumped on Bailey Ober. After nearly being hit by a pitch, Ben Rice led off with a single to set up Cody Bellinger for a long, two-run shot into right-center field for his 16th home run of the season to make it 2-0. His power had completely vanished for the last month prior to his hamstring injury, but he’s now gone deep five times since returning and four times in the last eight games.
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Max Fried got to work in the bottom half, working around a leadoff infield single by Luke Keaschall to put up a zero. The Yankees threatened for more in the second off Ober after back-to-back singles by Anthony Volpe and Ali Sánchez, but they were stranded. Minnesota’s offense would make them pay for stranding those runners later that inning, as another infield single by Royce Lewis (on a lackadasical play by George Lombard Jr.), a stolen base, and a two-out single by Emmanuel Rodriguez put the Twins on the board. We’d get a good sign shortly after, though, as Fried notched a textbook pickoff to end the frame.
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Ober just didn’t seem to have anything to really fool the Yankees in this one, as evidenced by another rally in the third. Heliot Ramos worked a one-out walk, and Luis García Jr. singled to set the table for Lombard, who’d get that run back on a two-out RBI single through the right side to extend the lead to 3-1. A walk from Volpe almost set up Sanchez for a big moment, but his long drive to center with the bases loaded died on the warning track.
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Fried was dialed in after that pickoff, retiring the next eight he faced before a Rodriguez double that was later stranded. The Yankees notched three more hits off Ober over the next few innings, but stranded them all. He wound up going 5.1 innings and allowed three runs, but this was one of those games that stat-pad your batting average, as he allowed nine hits.
Finally, Ober departed in the sixth for the lefty Taylor Rogers, as Derek Shelton looked to exploit the lefty-heavy top of the Yankees’ order. That would backfire. An E-6 on a bullet grounder from Rice and a four-pitch walk for Bellinger set up Ramos to rip an RBI double down the left-field line to make it 4-1. As it turns out, the guy who was brought here to specifically face lefties eventually starts hitting when he gets to see those lefties. Who knew?
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In prime position for another run or two, García chopped one back to the mound, and Bellinger was tagged out on an unsuccessful contact play. Fortunately for him, his teammate would pick him up. Spencer Jones trotted to the plate and was given hanging sweeper after hanging sweeper, gradually picking them up better. For some reason, on 2-2, Rogers threw a fourth sweeper down the pipe to the hulking slugger, who eviscerated it 423 feet deep into the Minnesota night to break the game open.
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Now pitching with a six-run lead, Fried gave up a leadoff triple to Kody Clemens, but bounced back to get a pop-out and two strikeouts to complete seven strong innings in his longest outing since April 22nd. He looks close to being fully built up, and it’s that the perfect time for the Yankees.
Former Yankee Yoendrys Gomez got the eighth for the Twinkies and worked around a leadoff single by Bellinger. Fried handed the ball to Ryan Yarbrough, who thought he gave up a long home run to Rodriguez, only for a review to overturn it to a foul ball before getting him to fly out to start a scoreless inning. Shelton found a way to get himself ejected on a fairly obvious overturn for some reason. My theory is that it’s more performative, as the Twins, who curiously bought at the deadline, fall to 70-81 with a tragic number of five.
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Andrew Morris was tasked with getting three more outs for Minnesota, which he couldn’t do without coughing up a run. A bunch of long at-bats yielded a run, as a Lombard drew a walk, got to second on a slow groundout, and scored on an RBI single by José Caballero. Yarbrough would do the job in the bottom of the ninth to secure a series victory.
Tampa walked off the Athletics on a Junior Caminero walk-off home run, so they remain 3.5 games back. As of the end of the Yankees’ game, the Red Sox trail the Rangers, 4-2. A loss by Boston would put them six back (without the tiebreaker) with 11 to go, so it’s safe to assume that the Yankees have put them in the rearview mirror for the rest of the regular season.
It’s a mid-week matinee to close out the season series against the Twins, as Carlos Rodón will look to build off a brilliant start on 9/11 against Zebby Matthews tomorrow at 1:40 pm EST on YES.
Box Score
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