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Twins shut out for second time in sweep by Yankees

betsy helfand, pioneer press
·3 min read

Ryan Jeffers got the Twins’ offense started on the right note in the first inning of Tuesday night’s series opener against the New York Yankees, smacking the first leadoff home run of his career. It would be the only run the Twins would score in 27 innings against the Bronx Bombers.

Another slow day at the plate on Thursday led the Twins to their third straight loss, this one a 5-0 setback to cap the Yankees’ three-game sweep at Target Field.

“We clearly did not do close to enough offensively, but we have to forget about it. We actually have to move on,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “ … No one in our clubhouse recognizes what just went on over the last 27 innings.”

There was almost no offense to speak of Thursday against Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, who threw seven innings and allowed just three hits while striking out eight. The Twins finished the day with just those three hits.

While they generated opportunities in both of the first two games of the series, on Thursday they “got pitched well and didn’t have the answers,” Baldelli said.

The problems, shortstop Carlos Correa said, stemmed more from the Twins’ approach and collective at-bats than what they saw from Yankees pitchers.

“They pitched well, but I feel like the way we’ve been playing, the way we’ve been swinging and the way we had a collective approach the past three, four weeks, I think it would have been a different story, and we didn’t do that, Correa said. “So, kudos to them. It looked like they pitched great. I think we’ve got to do better as a team.”

Until Correa’s double in the sixth inning, no Twins baserunner had even advanced past first base. He was the only one to touch second for the Twins (24-19).

The Yankees (30-15) had no such issues. Leadoff hitter Anthony Volpe hit a home run on a Joe Ryan fastball, helping set the tone for the day.

The Yankees would grab another two runs in the first inning, one on a ball that Alex Kirilloff got a glove on but could not snag. It was ruled a double, though easily could have been charged as an error. Another run scored on a groundout.

“We can make that play. We know that,” Ryan said. “But at the same time, I probably can execute a better pitch there and don’t have to put them in that position.”

Ryan would give up one more run in his 5⅓ innings of work, settling in after the difficult first inning.

Yankees superstar Aaron Judge was in the middle of things once again, hitting a pair of doubles and walking and scoring once. After he went 4 for 4 with a walk a day earlier, a Twins pitcher finally retired him in the fifth inning.

How? A ball he hit 409 feet out to center that would have been a home run in 18 of 30 parks.

A day earlier, Judge collected the same number of hits as the Twins. Thursday, he had nearly as many as the offense sagged following a few weeks of high-level production.

“That’s the beauty of baseball, right? You can go from being the best team in baseball for two weeks and then you can absolutely suck for three days,” Correa said. “You’ve just got to go out there and find a way to move on and perform the next day.

“That’s the beauty of this sport, also: We get to do it every single day.”

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