The New York Yankees entered the night facing the Minnesota Twins in the second game of a four-game series. In the first game, the Yankees fought out a 7-5 win over the Twins. Tonight the Yankees had Nestor Cortes Jr. on the mound facing the Twin Charlie Barnes.
To begin the game, Jorge Polano against Nestor Cortes Jr., flew out to Joey Gallo in left-field foul territory. Luis Arraez went down fanned by Cortes Jr. Josh Donaldson struck out swinging for a perfect inning for Nestor Cortes Jr. At the bottom DJ LeMahieu walked. Aaron Judge worked a back-to-back walk. Joey Gallo struck out swinging. Barnes threw one in the dirt, and both runners advanced. Giancarlo Stanton reached on a hit by a pitch to load the bases. Luke Voit got a two-run single to the left, scoring both Judge and Stanton for the Yankees’ two-run lead. Rougie Odor popped out to the catcher. Gary Sanchez singled to the pitcher to load the bases for Andrew Velazquez, who walked in a run. Brett Gardner gound out but scoring Voit. New York Yankees 3 Twins 0.
Mitch Carver led off the second by a ground out to third. Rob Refsnyder flew out to center. Nick Gordon struck out swinging for Cortes’s 3rd strikeout. At the bottom, it was LeMahieu singled to the left. Judge homered a lazer to right. Galo flew out to center. Stanton popped out to the catcher. Voit singled to left. Odor ground out into the shift. New York Yankees 6 Twins 0.
The third inning was led off by Willans Astudillo, who flew out to Judge. Cave lined out to Gallo in left. Andrelton Simmons walked on a very bad ball call. Polanco flew out to center for another scoreless inning for Cortes Jr. At the bottom, ahead by six runs, Sanchez ground out to short. Velazquez was tagged out at first. Gardner singled to left. LeMahieu flew out to Gordon in the center to end the inning. Yankees 6 Twins 0.
Luis Arraez led off the fourth inning by grounding out. Donaldson went down looking. Carver walked. Refsnyder singled to center for two on and two outs. Gordon was hit by a pitch. Astudillo popped out, leaving the bases loaded with Twins. At the bottom, Judge flew out to center. Joey Gallo worked a walk. Stanton walked. Voit singled, and Gallo scored. Â Â Â New York Yankees 7Â Twins 0
The fifth inning was scoreless for both teams. At the top of the sixth inning, the Twins scored two runs on Josh Donaldson’s two-run homer. Aaron Judge answered at the bottom of the sixth with a two-run homer of his own, making it New York Yankees 8 and the Minnesota Twins 2.
After the top of the seventh inning, Nestor Cortes Jr. left the game with a 7-2 lead for another good start for Cortes Jr. In the game, he walked two while striking out 7 Twins. New York Yankees 7 Minnesota Twins 2.
In the top of the eighth, with Joely Rodriguez on the mound, striking out two, J-Rod had a 1-2-3 inning. At the bottom, Tyler Wade in for Brett Gardner walked. DJ LeMahieu hit a homer to left field just to the right of the foul pole driving in Tyler Wade for the 8 run lead. That did it for Twins reliever Baraclough. New pitcher Juan Minaya faced Aaron Judge with no outs and two runs already in struck out swinging. Joey Gallo struck out looking. Giancarlo Stanton walked. Voit flew out to center to end the inning. New York Yankees 10 Minnesota Twins 2.
At the top of the ninth inning, with the last licks on the line for Minnesota, the Yankee reliever that made his major league debut on August 3rd, Brody Koener, and with 16 days rest, walked Mitch Carver, the first batter he faced. Refsnyder went down on strikes. Nick Gordon hit into a force out at second. Odor tried for the double play, but Voit couldn’t complete it. Willians Astudillo lined out to short to end the game and give the Yankees 8 wins in a row.
The New York Yankees have played so many close games recently; tonight is the first time the Yankees have scored 10 runs since August 4th against Baltimore. The final score was the New York Yankees 10 and the Minnesota Twins 2. The winning pitcher was Nestor Cortes Jr., and the loser was Charlie Barnes.
With the Tampa Bay loss, tonight against the White Sox the New York Yankees are now only four games out from the AL East division lead.