Yanks Take Extra-Inning Opener with Twins

Last night's rainout at Yankee Stadium forced a day-night doubleheader with the Minnesota Twins for today. Here's the details on the opener:

Domingo Germán started for the Yankees, and pitched decently, going 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk, striking out 6. Wandy Peralta pitched a perfect 7th. Jonathan Loáisiga pitched a scoreless 8th. And Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless 9th.

But the Twins took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st, and increased it to 3-0 in the 4th. Time for "Here come da Judge." Aaron Judge hit his 55th home run of the season. That's 1 more than Mickey Mantle ever hit in a season, 1 more than Alex Rodriguez hit in his best season as a Yankee, 8 more than Lou Gehrig's peak, and 9 above Joe DiMaggio's. The only Yankees with more home runs in a season are Roger Maris with 61 in 1961, and Babe Ruth with 60 in 1927 and 59 in 1921.

Gleyber Torres tied the game with a home run in the 6th. And 3-3 it stayed, forcing extra innings. Holmes stranded the ghost runner in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the 10th, 2 rookies from Venezuela named Oswald had their chance: Shortstop Oswald Peraza, age 22, reached on an error; but Oswaldo Cabrera, 23, grounded into a double play.

Incidentally, Peraza was born on June 15, 2000. This makes him the 1st Yankee born in a year starting with a 2 -- and, unless you're one of these fools who says that it began on January 1, 2001, the 1st Yankee born in the 21st Century. As if I didn't feel old enough already.

And this game may have given me a gray hair or two. Ron Marinaccio pitched a 1-2-3 11th. Judge led off the bottom of the 11th. Since 1st base was open, and his run meant nothing, and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli is not a masochist, he had Judge intentionally walked. Then Torres was unintentionally walked, to load the bases with nobody out. The Yankees were in business.

But Ronald Guzmán, another newcomer (but not a rookie: The 27-year-old Dominican debuted in 2018 with the Texas Rangers), grounded into a 1st-to-home-to-1st double play. And Marwin González grounded out.

Bases loaded, nobody out, and we got nothing -- yet.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Marinaccio walked the leadoff batter in the top of the 12th, and allowed a go-ahead single. Greg Weissert came in to put out the fire, but it was 4-3 Minnesota.

González was the ghost runner for the bottom of the 12th. Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled him home to tie it. Estevan Florial struck out. He's now 1-for-20 at the major league level this season. But Jose Trevino singled, loading the bases with 1 out. Peraza flew out, not deep enough to score IKF. But Cabrera looped a hit to short left-center, and IKF scored the winning run.

Yankees 5, Twins 4. WP: Weissert (3-0, which is deceiving, given that his ERA is 7.36). No save. LP: Trevor Megill (3-3).

Game 2 follows.