Yanks' Series With Twins Hopeful But Unsatisfying

The Yankees played 3 games against the struggling Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis. The series ended hopeful, but unsatisfying.

It bean with Josh Donaldson flapping his gums. The 35-year-old 3rd baseman from Pace, in the Florida Panhandle -- a.k.a. Floribama or the Redneck Riviera -- started out with the Oakland Athletics, was the American League Most Valuable Player with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015, and the National League Comeback Player of the Year with the Atlanta Braves in 2019. On May 29, he scored Major League Baseball's 2 millionth run, although that was a matter of timing rather than talent. He's been a 3-time All-Star and has 232 home runs, so we're not talking about some scrub.

We are, however, talking about some jerk. Before the series, he accused Yankee ace Gerrit Cole of cheating, by using a substance to give himself a better grip on the ball.

You know how it works: In baseball, it's not going to be punished if it's done to the Yankees, only if it's done by the Yankees. Suddenly, Cole became a "cheater." Nobody accused him of doing it when he was pitching for the Houston Astros, a team proven to have cheated (but not any involvement in such by Cole).

The Astros are known cheats, and got a slap on the wrist. The Boston Red Sox are known cheats, and haven't even gotten that. If MLB handled proven cheats the way the NCAA does, all teams proven to have cheated would have their titles stripped, down to the Divisions, and would be banned from postseason play for a couple of years.

It's not clear whether Donaldson was expressing what he thought was righteous rage, or he was just trying to get into Cole's head.

Another concern going in was that the Yankees, at least as far back as I can remember in the late 1970s, have a habit of making players who once played for them look great against them. And Michael Pineda would be starting for the Twins on Tuesday, and J.A. Happ on Thursday. Oh, boy...

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Sure enough, 2 batters into the opening game, Donaldson got a hit, and was 1 of 2 runners who scored on a Ryan Jeffers double. But Jordan Montgomery settled down after that, and it was still only 2-0 Minnesota after 4 innings.

The Yankees got to Pineda in the top of the 5th. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. With 1 out, Pineda walked Miguel Andujar. The free-swinging 3rd baseman/left fielder has been hurt, but this was his 1st walk of the season. Brett Gardner singled. DJ LeMahieu singled to load the bases. And Pineda walked Aaron Judge to force Andujar home.

Rocco Baldelli, the former Tampa Bay Rays star who is now the Twins' manager, replaced Pineda with Jorge Alcala. In the short term, a big mistake, as he threw a wild pitch to Gleyber Torres, scoring Gardner. But he got the next 2 outs to leave the score tied.

The teams traded runs in the 6th. The Yankees got a single by Gary Sanchez and a double by Rougned Odor. Anduar reached on an error, and Gardner hit a sacrifice fly to score Sanchez. But Montgomery allowed a run, and Jonathan Loaisiga had to come in to keep it 3-3.

The 8th inning began, and Yankee Fans began to worry about extra innings and the ghost runner. But Aaron Boone sent Clint Frazier up to pinch-hit for Odor to lead off, and he got a hit. So did Andujar. Boone sent Tyler Wade in to run for Frazier, and to take Odor's place at 2nd base. Gardner bunted the runners over. LeMahieu grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Wade.

Judge grounded to 2nd, and was ruled out on a force play. But Boone challenged it, thinking Twins shortstop Andrelton Simmons had dropped the ball before the force could be made. The replay showed Boone was right, and that meant that Andujar had scored as well. 5-3 Yankees. Chad Green pitched a scoreless bottom of the 8th.

In the top of the 9th, Baldelli sent Griffin Jax in to pitch. This made Jax, a 26-year-old native of the Denver suburbs, the 1st graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy ti appear in an MLB game. He met his wife at the Academy, and she still serves, holding the rank of Captain. He is the son of former Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals linebacker Garth Jax.

Welcome to the majors, Lieutenant. Here are your 1st 4 batters: Gio Urshela singled, sanchez hit a home run, Wade struck out, and Andujar hit a home run.

Wandy Peralta allowed a run in the bottom of the 9th, but the Twins got no closer. Yankees 8, Twins 4. WP: Loaisiga (5-2). No save. LP: Taylor Rogers (2-3).

The Yankees scored 8 runs. A good sign.

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Two batters into the Wednesday game, Judge took Randy Dobnak deep. Cole with a 1st inning lead? Good sign.

In the 2nd, Kyle Higashioka singled, and Gardner doubled him home. The 3rd began with a Judge double, a Torres walk, and a long Giancarlo Stanton home run. 5-0 Yankees.

Cole stumbled a little in the 3rd, allowing a home run to Jorge Polanco. He stumbled again in the 5th, allowing one to Miguel Sano. But, in between, in the top of the 5th, well, Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Torres led off with a walk, and Torres hit another home run. Urshela singled, but Odor grounded into a double play. Then Andujar hit a home run. 8-1 Yankees.

Andujar gave the Yankees another run on a sac fly in the 7th. Boone thought he could trust Brooks Kriske with a 7-run lead. He could -- barely. Kriske was wild, and allowed 4 runs, forcing Boone to warm Aroldis Chapman up, before finally ending it.

Yankees 9, Twins 6. WP: Cole (7-3). No save. LP: Dobnak (1-6).

Here is what happened to Donaldson in that game: Cole struck him out swinging in the 1st, Cole struck him out swinging again in the 3rd, Cole got him to fly to right in the 6th, and he reached on an error against Luis Cessa in the 8th. Officially, 0-for-4.

The Yankees had now scored 17 runs in 2 games. A very good sign.

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Boone started Michael King in the finale, reminding us that there is a big hole in the rotation that could be filled when either Corey Kluber or Luis Severino returns from injury -- and it looks like Severino is far closer to returning. King didn't get out of the 4th inning.

Fortunately, Happ didn't have it, either. In the 1st, the Yankees greeted him with a Judge single, a Torres single, and another Stanton home run. As Earl Weaver, the Hall of Fame manager for the Baltimore Orioles, taught us, the way to win is with pitching, defense, and three-run homers. Home runs with men on base. But the Twins came back with a run of their own in the bottom of the 1st. That would matter.

Urshela led off the top of the 4th with a home run. The Twins took that run back in the bottom of the inning. A LeMahieu single brought a run home in the top of the 6th. The Twins took that run back in the bottom of the 7th.

When the bottom of the 9th began, the Yankees led 5-3, and Boone brought Aroldis Chapman on to close it out. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the Twins had only a 7 percent chance of winning the game.

And then the roof fell in. A weird analogy, given that the Twins no longer play in the stupid Metrodome, but that's what it felt like. Chapman gave up a single to Polanco. Up came Donaldson, who hadn't gotten a hit since his 1st at-bat of the series. Donaldson crushed a drive to left field. Tie ballgame. Of course, it would be Donaldson who did it, even if it wasn't against Cole.

Then Willians Astudillo got a hit. And Nelson Cruz hit one out to give the Twins the game. And all the goodwill Chapman had drummed up over the season's 1st 62 games seemed to vanish, almost in an instant.

Twins 7, Yankees 5. WP: Hansel Robles (2-2). No save. LP: Chapman (4-1).

The Yankees, who have struggled to score runs for most of this season, had scored 22 runs in 3 games. That should have been enough to win all 3. It wasn't. Hopeful, but unsatisfying.

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The Yankees are now 33-30 on the season, including 2-8 when trying to sweep a series. They are 6 games out of 1st place in the AL Eastern Division, behind the Rays. They are 2 1/2 games out of the last AL Playoff spot. If the current standings hold to the end of the season, they will not make the Playoffs. Their current chances of making the Playoffs are 25.2 percent; of winning the World Series, 0.7 percent.

Brian Cashman still has a job.

At any rate, today is a very rare occasion: A Friday after Opening Day when the Yankees are not scheduled to play. They play the Phillies in Philadelphia tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon, then have Monday off, then play 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays in Buffalo, before coming home to face the A's.

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And, in case you're interested: The delayed-by-COVID 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, a.k.a. Euro 2020, the championship of European soccer for national teams, gets underway today, with Italy playing Turkey in a Group A match at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Portugal are the defending Champions, having beaten France in the Euro 2016 Final. However, France, holders of the World Cup, are considered the favorites.

England are in Group D, with Scotland (the original "international football rivalry," but the Scots have been terrible for the entire 21st Century this far), Croatia (who reached the 2018 World Cup Final and gave France a good game before losing) and Czechia (a.k.a. the Czech Republic, a decent team). England should be able to advance to the Knockout Stage, but their record of choking means you can't presume.

Poland, my ancestral homeland, are in Group E with Spain (not what they were 10 years ago), Sweden (a.k.a. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the Ten Dwarfs) and Slovakia, so there is a chance to advance to the Knockout Stage.