June 8, 2022

Twins ‘walk the plank,’ lose 10-4 to Yankees

The Twins walked the plank all night, said radio play-by-play man Cory Provus during Tuesday’s game against the New York Yankees, underscoring the nine base on balls issued by Twins pitching.

And the Yanks took full advantage, racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, then tacked on five runs late for a 10-4 win in Game 1 of their three-game series.

It wasn’t pretty. No one pitched particularly well — reliever Juan Minaya was designated for assignment after the game — Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected and the team’s best hitter, Luis Arraez, had to leave the game early due to right shoulder tightness. Twins reliever Trevor Megill put former Twin Josh Donaldson on his ass with a brush back pitch, but the Yankees came right back and beaned injury-prone Byron Buxton. You are playing with fire, New York.

The continuing challenge for the Twins is how short-handed they are. They still are without four of their best pitchers in Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Josh Winder, although shortstop Carlos Correa is finally set to return.

So instead of the Yankees having to face the best pitching the Twins have to offer, they got rookie Cole Sands on Tuesday, who allowed eight hits, including two home runs, in little more than three innings. He will be followed by Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy Wednesday and Thursday. I want to say that Archer and Bundy can do the job, but frankly it feels a little underwhelming.

Extra innings…

-The Twins are now 32-25 on the season and still have a four-game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the division.

-The only bright spot was Jorge Polanco who went 4-for-5, scored a run and drove in two more.

-Minaya had an interesting pitching line. In one inning, he walked three batters (and walked in a run), but also struck out the side.

-The Twins haven’t won a season series against the Yankees since 2001. That year they went 4-2 against New York.

-Twins Territory was not pleased with Tuesday’s result.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.