June 9, 2022

Well, what do you know? Twins trounce Yanks 8-1

So it really isn’t hopeless after all, is it?

Twins pitching limited the New York Yankees to four hits and the offense did the rest, banging out 11 hits, including three doubles and two home runs, to pace the Twins to an easy 8-1 win on Wednesday.

The Twins scored two runs in the fourth inning, two runs in the fifth, two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh to seal the victory. Starter Chris Archer allowed a run over five innings to earn his first win of the season and three relievers scattered two hits over the final four innings of the game.

Byron Buxton hit a home run, Oregon State man Trevor Larnach hit a pinch hit double and Jose Miranda led the team with three hits. He also scored a run and drove in three.

The Twins go for the series win on Thursday. Dylan Bundy gets the ball.

Extra innings…

-The Twins turned four double plays in Wednesday’s win.

-Carlos Correa had a hit, scored two runs and walked in his return to the lineup after being sidelined by COVID-19.

-Catcher Ryan Jeffers broke out of an 0-for-21 slump in a big way after he hit a towering blast into the third deck at Target Field in the fifth inning.

-The losing pitcher was the Yankees’ Nestor Cortes, the same player who former Twins pitcher and occasional Twins broadcaster, Jim Kaat, referred to (for some reason) as “Nestor the Molestor.”

Here’s the exact quote, according to the Associated Press.

“‘Nestor the Molestor,’ Nestor Cortes,” said Kaat during a Twins/Tigers game earlier this month. “Angles and different speeds. He’s a pitcher.”

Kaat planned to contact Cortes directly and speak with the pitcher about the situation, according to AP.

After the Yankees swept a day-night doubleheader from the Los Angeles Angels, Cortes said he had heard about Kaat’s comment.

“I’m sure, you know, he didn’t really mean it, and people make mistakes, but it didn’t offend me at all,” Cortes told AP.

“So, you know, I don’t really have anything more than just that, honestly.”

-Twins Territory was in a much better mood after Wednesday’s win. A sampling:

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.