For the 2021 Yankees, Anything Is Still Possible

After 2 bad losses and 1 great win in the Citi Series against The Other Team, I was not optimistic going into the Yankees' rainout makeup with the Minnesota Twins yesterday afternoon.

Rookie Luis Gil started, and after 2 great performances, he got sent down, and after coming back up, he's had 2 bad performances in a row. Yesterday, he allowed 5 runs on 7 hits in just 6 innings -- although just 1 walk, on 8 strikeouts. His control was good, he just got hit hard.

But the bullpen was great: Over the last 4 innings, Andrew Heaney (yes, him), Albert Abreu, Aroldis Chapman and Clay Holmes allowed no runs on 2 hits and 2 walks.

But it was 4-0 Twins after the 1st inning, 5-0 after 3, and still 5-0 going into the bottom of the 6th. Up to that point, the Yankees were 0-34 when trailing by 4 or more runs.

But... Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Tyler Wade led off the bottom of the 6th with a walk. Then he stole 2nd. Kyle Higashioka popped up, but that got Wade to 3rd. And DJ LeMahieu got him home with a sacrifice fly. 5-1. Joe Gallo hit a home run in the 7th, to make it 5-2.

The Cliche reared its head again in the 8th. Anthony Rizzo drew a leadoff walk. Gary Sanchez, pinch-hitting for Higashioka, and LeMahieu flew out, but Brett Gardner walked. And then Aaron Judge hit a home to tie the ballgame.

Another Cliche Alert: Aroldis gotta Aroldis. Chapman struck out the 1st 2 batters in the 9th, then allowed a double, a walk, and then a long fly to center that scared us for a moment, but was caught by Gardner. Alex Colome, who gave up Judge's homer, struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th, but Holmes prevented the ghost runner from scoring in the top of the 10th.

The Yankees began the bottom of the 10th with Gleyber Torres on 2nd, and Gio Urshela batting against Ralph Garza. Gio struck out. Sanchez came up. Here's a guy who has struggled for 2 years, and been ripped mercilessly by online fans. But he hit a line shot all the way to the left field wall, and Torres easily scored the winning run.

Yankees 6, Twins 5. WP: Holmes (8-3). No save. LP: Garza (1-3). Attendance: 31,528, pretty good for a makeup game against a non-rival, especially with a lot of people still afraid to be in big crowds because of COVID. And they went home happy.

Tonight, the Yankees open a 3-game series in Baltimore against the Orioles, who embarrassed them so at home last week. Gerrit Cole pitches after missing a start. I can see it now: He pitches a no-hitter, but a Torres error leads to him losing 1-0. Or he pitches 8 no-hit innings, but is over the 100-pitch mark, and Brian Cashman orders Chapman brought in, and he loses the game 1-0.

Or, maybe the Yankees do what they usually do in Camden Yards: Turn the place into a pinball machine and score a lot of runs.

The Yankees just came back from a 4-run deficit for the 1st time in 35 tries this season, so, with 18 regular-season games left, anything is possible.