Pitcher Jose Berrios stepped up like a boss and the Twins scored six runs in the second inning to knock off the New York Yankees, 6-1, on Wednesday. It was the Twins’ first series win over the Yankees in Minnesota since 2008, according to MLB.com.
I predicted the Twins would go 0-6 (have a little faith, right?) versus the Houston Astros and Yankees; instead, they went 3-3 and remain in good shape in the American League Central, now a half-game behind the Cleveland Indians. Up next the Twins face the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and end the month against the Oakland A’s. Other teams in the central needed to stumble out of the second-half gates and they have: The Tribe is 4-6 in the past 10 games and the Royals are 3-7.
Berrios was terrific on Wednesday. He limited the Bronx Bombers to one run over six-plus innings with five strikeouts, and improved to 9-3 with a very respectable 3.50 ERA.
Ervin Santana gets the ball on Friday.
Extra innings..
-The home runs keep coming for slugger Miguel Sano. He hit No. 23 on Wednesday.
-Is Bartolo Colon going to retire? ESPN reports that he is considering it, but Twins manager Paul Molitor downplayed the report, according to MLB.com.
“I don’t know the context of those conversations, but to think about retiring when you’re 44 years old and in baseball, it’s a pretty normal thing,” Molitor told MLB.com. “We had a little conversation this morning. He’s fine physically. He’s scheduled to pitch on Monday, so he’ll prepare for that.”
If Colon wins Monday, he would tie Hall of Famer Whitey Ford with 236 career wins. Colon has said that he wants to pitch long enough to pass Hall of Famer Juan Marichal’s 243 career victories. Marichal holds the record for most wins by a Dominican-born player.
-The Yankees and Chicago White Sox pulled off a seven player trade prior to the Twins game.