Sometimes, You're the Windshield...

There's an old saying: "Sometimes, you're the windshield. Sometimes, you're the bug." Of course, that saying doesn't work out too well for the windshield, either.

The Yankees opened a long homestand tonight, with the Minnesota Twins supplying the opposition. Filling one of the holes in the Yankee rotation, Jhony Brito was fantastic in his 1st 2 outings. Not this time: In the very 1st inning, he allowed single, single, walk, sacrifice fly, double, double, groundout, double, home run. Minnesota 7, New York not yet up to bat.

Aaron Boone mercifully took him out. Maybe mercy was the wrong move: Colten Brewer allowed home runs to the 1st 2 batters he faced. 9-0.

Brewer managed to pitch through the 4th, including 2 more runs in the 3rd. But Joe Ryan was brilliant for the Twins, going 7 innings and allowing only 3 baserunners. All night long, the only Yankee runs came in the 4th and 9th innings, in each case through a solo home run by Anthony Rizzo.

Ian Hamilton pitched the 5th, the 6th and the 7th, and Jimmy Cordero pitched the 8th. All of which were scoreless. In wipeout games like this, there's a tendency to let a position player pitch. Major League Baseball (or, at least, Commissioner Rob Manfred) doesn't like that, and so, there's a new rule about that: Leading teams have to be up by 10 or more runs in the 9th inning in order to let a position player pitch, while trailing teams can use a position player anytime it's down by 8 or more runs. Position players are also allowed to pitch anytime in extra innings.

Boone sent Isiah Kiner-Falefa in to pitch. He has now played 311 MLB games at shortstop, 126 at 3rd base, 73 catcher, 20 at 2nd base, 5 in center field, 4 as a designated hitter, and 1 as a pitcher. He has yet to play 1st base, left field or right field.

First batter, 1 pitch, 1 out. A lineout to center field by Trevor Lamach, a single to left by José Miranda, a flyout to left by Donovan Solano, and a lineout to right by Nick Gordon. He threw 12 pitches, 8 of them strikes. So Rizzo and IKF had good games, the rest didn't. Maybe IKF should have started the game.

But he didn't. And so, Twins 11, Yankees 2. WP: Ryan (3-0). No save. LP: Brito (2-1).

With a loss like that, nothing you can do except treat it like a 3-2 loss, put it in the past, and move on to the next game. The series continues tomorrow night. Nestor Cortés starts, against Louie Varland (if you believe the YES Network, or Tyler Mahle if you believe ESPN).