The Twins turned a triple play in the first inning, Mitch Garver hit two of the Twins’ five home runs and the bullpen held up a lead for five innings as the Twins beat the Yankees 8-6 Monday night at Target Field.
Perez: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 63.3% strikes (50 of 79 pitches)
Bullpen: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Home Runs: Garver 2 (20), Polanco (14), Cruz (20), Kepler (25)
Multi-Hit Games: Garver (3-for-4, 2 HR), Polanco (2-for-3, HR, BB)
Top 3 WPA: Garver .207, Polanco .166, Cruz .152
Here's the triple play, which happened in the top of the first inning.
The bomba squad was fully assembled as Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz smacked solo home runs in the first inning. Max Kepler and Mitch Garver joined the party with homers of their own in the fourth inning, as the Twins jumped out to a 7-3 lead.
Martín Pérez lasted four innings and walked four. Pérez entered tonight giving up just 0.7 home runs per nine innings, the lowest in the American League. Gio Urshela, Luke Voit and DJ LeMahieu each homered off him on Monday. LeMahieu narrowed the Twins lead to 7-6 with his blast in the fifth.
The Yankees sent veteran CC Sabathia to the hill in his final regular season start in Minneapolis. Sabathia has pitched very well against the Twins, owning a 20-9 record in 39 starts. History would not repeat itself, as Sabathia was tagged for four home runs. The lefty lasted four innings and allowed six runs.
Luis Cessa relieved Sabathia and Mitch Garver took him deep in the sixth for his second homer of the evening. Cessa settled down and struck out six. Jonathan Holder pitched a quiet eighth inning for New York.
The Twins bullpen came up huge against one of the best lineups in baseball. Tyler Duffey pitched a scoreless fifth inning. Lewis Thorpe returned from Rochester to throw 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run and striking out a pair. Taylor Rogers survived a scare on his way to save number 15.
Kyle Gibson faces off against Domingo German in the second game of this series tomorrow night at Target Field.