Laugher. Yank Offense Finally Feasts. NY 12 Minnesota 6

April 27, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0

The bottom of the Yankee order finally woke up, and the top of the order was wide awake — as NY pummeled the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on a Thursday afternoon game at Target Field in Minneapolis.

All it took was a not so great starter — Kenta Maeda — who absorbed 11 hits and 10 runs in 3 innings. Maeda is now 0-4 9.00 on the season.

It was a field day for all — everybody got hits — literally the entire Yankee lineup except for DJ LeMahieu. Aaron Judge went 3-4 with a walk; Anthony Volpe went 2-3 with 2 walks; Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres got 2 hits.

And on the mound, Domingo German — given a huge 11-1 lead by the 4th inning — did what he was supposed to do: throw strikes. He allowed 3 HR’s and left in the 7th having allowed 5 runs with a runner on 3rd — but he pitched into the 7th, sparing the Yankee pen.

“I thought it started in the 1st inning,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about the crooked number 5 runs the Yanks scored in the 2nd inning. “We didn’t score but hit the ball on the nose with Judgy hitting the double, Volpe hits the ball; Rizz smokes the ball at the right fielder; And then the DJ smokes the ball in the gap that they catch. So it’s like bam right out of the shoot good at bats there. And then the bottom (of the lineup) — Cabrera executes the perfect bunt — drops it down as good as you can; Kiner the same way. Higgy hits the ball hard to center doesn’t get anything to show for it, and Willie threw out a couple. So nice to have everyone up and down the lineup contributing.”

NY improves to 14-11, in 4th place, 6 games behind 20-6 Tampa. Minnesota drops to 14-11, in 1st place in their division.

1. Yanks Score 5 in the 2nd

The Yanks hit Maeda hard from the start — birthday boy Aaron Judge (who turned 31) ripped a double in the top of the 1st but Maeda got out of the inning.

In the 2nd, the Yanks Pounced. Maeda was plagued by bad defense behind him as well — as the Twins were throwing the ball all over the place.

Gleyber Torres led off with single past the 2nd baseman — and Torres just kept running — going to 2nd and then to 3rd as centerfielder Nick Gordon was lackadaisical fielding the ball, and then threw badly to 2nd.

“That’s one where you just keep going until they tell you to stop”, said Suzyn Waldman on the radio.

Willie Calhoun reached on an infield grounder that Joey Gallo, playing 1st base, threw to the wrong person – the 2nd person standing nearby instead of the pitcher covering. It scored Torres from 3rd and NY was up 1-0.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on a bunt single and Oswaldo Cabrera walked to load the bases. Anthony Volpe singled in a run to make it 2-0 NY.

Aaron Judge then ripped his second double of the game to left — almost identical to the first one in the 1st — but this one clearing the bases. NY 5 Minnesota 0.

2. Yanks Add 6 in the 4th

Maeda got through the 3rd but in the 4th the much-maligned Yankee bottom of the order went to work on him again: Kyle Higashioka led off with a single, and Oswaldo Cabrera laid down a perfect bunt single — the runners going to 2nd and 3rd on a throwing error by Maeda.

Anthony Volpe then plated them both with a double and it was 7-1 NY.

Aaron Judge walked and Anthony Rizzo doubled him and Volpe home. NY 9 Minnesota 1.

Gleyber Torres then hit a 429-foot homer to center — NY 11 Minnesota 1.

Laugher.

3. German Throws Strikes

Domingo German meanwhile was good thru 3 innings — allowing a solo homer to Jose Miranda in the 2nd to make it 5-1 at the time. German was helped by a slick play in the field by Anthony Volpe — who started a double play to end the 3rd. It was more good news for Yankee fans as Volpe had made an error in each of the previous 3 games.

Blessed with an 11-1 lead, German threw strikes. And allowed some homers but got outs.

Miranda hit another homer off him in the 4th — a 2-run job — to make it 11-3.

German pitched a 1-2-3 5th inning, but in the 6th, Joey Gallo hit a 2-run homer and it was 11-5.

A leadoff triple in the 7th by Nick Gordon sent German to the showers. Ian Hamilton came in and allowed a groundout to score the run — charged to German — to make it 11-6.

But German had done his job — pitched into the 7th and got the win.

4. Yank Bullpen Wraps Up

Hamilton got the final 3 outs of the 7th and a shutout 8th, and Clay Holmes got some work — pitching a 1-2-3 9th inning for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401471384

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