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The long awaited postseason return to Target Field was met with some mixed emotions, as the Twins brought a 2-0 series deficit back from New York, and were suddenly on the brink of elimination. The Twins gave themselves plenty of chances to give this crowd a reason to erupt, but time and time again they came up short in the clutch, going a dreadful 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. In the end, the Twins dropped their 16th consecutive postseason game by a score of 5-1, ending the season for the Bomba Squad.Box Score Odorizzi: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 65.9% strikes (54 of 82 pitches) Home Runs: Rosario (1) Multi-Hit Games: Rosario (3-for-4, 2B, HR), Arraez (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Rosario .110, Cron .104 WPA of -0.1: Sano -.165, Kepler -.139, Gonzalez -.118, Cruz -.112, Polanco -.108, Garver -.101 Here's A Look At Today's Win Probability Chart Download attachment: vs Yankees 10-7-2019.PNG (Chart via Fangraphs) Despite being down in the series 2-0, Twins were amped at the start of the game, and Jake Odorizzi gave them something to cheer about in the top of the first. After striking out DJ LeMahieu to start the ballgame, Odorizzi appeared to get Aaron Judge to fly out to Eddie Rosario in right for two quick outs. However, Judge was awarded first base after catcher’s interference was called. That was no problem for Odorizzi, as he came back and got Brett Gardner to strike out and Edwin Encarnacion to fly out to end the inning. Odorizzi wasn’t able to keep the Yankees off the board for long, however, as Gleyber Torres hit a fly ball that just cleared the wall, and Jake Cave’s glove, in left. Rocco Baldelli went out and asked the umpires to review the home run for fan interference, and while a fan did reach over the railing and made contact with the ball, it was clearly already over the fence, along with Cave’s glove, before the fan touched it. Luckily for the Twins, the home run came with nobody on base, which feels like a rare occurrence for the Yankees against the Twins of late. The Twins gave themselves an excellent opportunity to get on the scoreboard themselves in the bottom of the second. Eddie Rosario drove a pitch about six inches above the zone deep off the top of the right-center field wall for a lead off double, narrowly missing a home run. After a Mitch Garver walk, and a Luis Arraez single, the Twins had the bases loaded and nobody out. However, as was the narrative all season long, the Twins failed to get the job done with the bases loaded, thanks to a Miguel Sano popup, and strikeouts from Marwin Gonzalez and Jake Cave. Gio Urshela led off the Yankee third with a blopper that dropped in front a Jake Cave, who inexplicably laid out for the baseball, coming up a few feet short, and allowing the ball to get past him, turning a routine single into a lead off double for Urshela. Urshela was able to advance to third on a DJ LeMahieu ground out, and looked like he might be stranded there after Aaron Judge struck out. However, Brett Gardner came through with a two-out single that went right past a shifted Miguel Sano, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. After singles from Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario, the Twins had another scoring chance with two on and two out, for Mitch Garver, in the bottom of the third. After getting ahead in the count 3-0, Garver took what was pretty clearly ball four high, however, umpire Gary Cederstrom didn’t see it that way, calling it a strike. After that, Luis Severino was able to battle back and strike out Garver to end the inning. Jake Odorizzi did his job in the fourth and fifth innings, by keeping the Yankees off the board and working two pretty clean innings. Overall, for the night, Odorizzi earned a tip of the cap for doing his job by limiting the Yankees to just two runs across five innings, keeping the Twins in the game into the later innings. Luis Arraez got yet another Twins rally attempt going in the bottom of the sixth, when he drilled a one-out double that split the gap in left-center field. Miguel Sano followed that up with good at-bat, working the count full before driving a ball that left the bat at 107.9 MPH, toward the wall in right, but Aaron Judge used all of his 6’8” frame to reach up and snare the ball out of midair. Marwin Gonzalez followed that up by driving a flyball high into the Minnesota sky, but that ball came up just shy of the fence, as Judge made the catch on the warning track to end the Twins sixth. The Yankees added to their lead in the top of the seventh after yet another clutch hit off the bat of Didi Gregorius. Gleyber Torres started the inning with a ringing double off of Taylor Rogers. Then with one out, Gregorius ripped a single down the first base line, bringing around Torres to extend the Yankee lead to three. It took a long, and I mean long, time but the Twins were finally able to get on the board thanks to this Eddie Rosario blast to lead off the bottom of the eighth. The Yankees tacked on a couple more runs in the ninth to extend their lead to four in the top of the ninth. Cameron Maybin took Sergio Romo deep, with what looked like a lazy fly ball that just cleared the wall in left. They tacked on their fifth, and final, run of the game, thanks to, you guessed it, yet another RBI off the bat of Didi Gregorius. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Twins got themselves a little rally going in the bottom of the ninth, getting each of the first two hitters on to lead off the inning. However, the ninth ended in the same way as every other Twins rally of the ballgame. Max Kepler picked up the first out of the inning, by striking out three straight sliders from Aroldis Chapman. Jorge Polanco then lined a ball up the middle that appeared destined for a base hit until Didi Gregorius grabbed the ball, and with it the Twins hopes and dreams. The Twins season came to an end with Nelson Cruz at the plate looking at strike three right down the middle. The Twins ended the game going just 3-for-9 on balls put in play over 100 MPH. Those nine batted balls had an average expected batting average of .612. Instead, the Twins got just over half of that, and of course all the ones that didn’t drop for a hit were the ones hit in the highest leverage spots, but hey that’s baseball. Postgame with Baldelli: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: 10-7-2019 vs Yankees.PNG ALDS Game Recaps: Twins ALDS Game 2 Recap: Nothing Works, Twins Lose 12th Straight To Yankees Twins ALDS Game 1 Recap: Bad Defense, Questionable Management Leads to Loss Click here to view the article

It is safe to say game one did not go the way that many Twins fans would have hoped, but we have to find a way to put that behind us and gear up for game two of the series. It Twins can come away with a win in game two, they will suddenly find themselves in the driver's seat with the series tied and heading back to Minnesota. However, if they lose to the Yankees yet again, they will have dug themselves quite the hole to get out of.ALDS Game 2 Minnesota Twins (101-61) @ New York Yankees (104-58) Series: 1-0 Yankees Start Time: 5:07 PM ET / 4:07 PM CT Forecast: Mid 50s and clear skies Pitching Matchup: Randy Dobnak, RHP vs. Masahiro Tanaka, RHP Lineups: Download attachment: Lineups1005.png What an amazing run Randy Dobnak as had up through the Twins minor league system this season. After starting the season at High-A Fort Myers, Dobnak quickly got the call up to AA Pensacola. He then rode the carousel up and down between Pensacola and AAA Rochester, before finally getting the call up to the major leagues in August. At the time of his call up, many probably just thought of Dobnak as yet another one of the Twins minor league relievers who was there to eat innings, and then get sent back down to Rochester. However, once rosters expanded in September, Dobnak finally got a chance at a continued stay with the MLB club, and he took full advantage of it. As a result of his success, it compelled me to make a case for Dobnak to start game two of the ALDS a couple of weeks ago. In nine appearances, including five starts, Dobnak posted a stellar 1.59 ERA with 23 strikeouts and just five walks in 28 1/3 innings. Yankees Starter On the mound for the New York Yankees in game two of the ALDS will be thirty-year-old Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka got off to a good start to his 2019 campaign, earning himself a nod in the All-Star Game. However, Tanaka has been abysmal over the second half of the season. Since June 29th, Tanaka has a 5.89 ERA in 16 appearances (15 starts). Over that span, Tanaka has struck out just 6.86 and walked 2.03 batters per nine innings. If the Twins want to get back into this series, they will need to jump all over Tanaka early, and put up a number that can help keep this dreaded Yankee offense at bay. Twins Vs Tanaka Masahiro Tanaka is already in his sixth season in the Major Leagues, and in that time eight of the 13 hitters on the Twins postseason roster have faced Tanaka before. In the table below, we can see how each of those players have performed against Tanaka in their careers. Download attachment: Twins vs Tanaka ALDS Game 2 Preview.PNG From this chart, it looks like the Twins hitters haven’t had a lot of success facing Tanaka. Jonathan Schoop and C.J. Cron are the only two who have done anything against him. While, Nelson Cruz, Marwin Gonzales and Max Kepler have looked absolutely awful against Tanaka. However, it appears as though Kepler has run into a bit of bad luck, as he has hit the ball really well against Tanaka, though it has resulted in just one hit. Hopefully, Kepler can have a reversal of fortunes in Game 2 of the ALDS. One of the overlooked talking points of last night’s game was the bullpen usage, specifically among the back end of each team’s bullpen. Among the Twins top four relievers, only Tyler Duffey made an appearance in game one, throwing 25 pitches. However, each of the Yankees top four relievers, Aroldis Chapman, Adam Ottavino, Zack Britton and Tommy Kahnle all made an appearance in game one. Given the substantial drop off that pitchers have while pitching on zero days of rest, when compared to how they do when they are well rested, this should give the Twins a big advantage if the game is close down the stretch. Click here to view the article

If you haven’t already read Part 1 of this series, I highly recommend that you go and do so. In that installment, I broke down the strengths and weakness of three Yankee hitters (DJ LeMahieu, Gary Sanchez and Giancarlo Stanton) to help devise an effective game plan for the Twins pitchers and fielders to have going into the ALDS. In this version, I will be doing much of the same, except now we will be looking at three new hitters in heart of the Yankees lineup.The hitters that we will be breaking down in this installment are Aaron Judge, Edwin Encarnacion and Gleyber Torres. Just as the with the three previous hitters, each of these three is also right-handed. This sets up well for the Twins pitching staff that is stacked with right-handed pitchers. Let’s start this breakdown by looking at perhaps the best hitter in the Yankees lineup, Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge 2017 was a breakout rookie season for Aaron Judge, who hit what was then a rookie record 52 home runs. In the two seasons since, Judge has failed to reach the 30 home run mark, as a result of missing substantial amounts of time with injury in each season. However, when healthy, Judge is still one of the best power hitters in the game. When facing Aaron Judge, getting ahead in the count is vital. Judge has a patient approach, and when he gets ahead in the count, he doesn’t miss his pitch often. Since 2017, Judge ranks third in major league baseball with a .531 wOBA when ahead in the count. A big reason for this is his proficiency against fastballs, as Judge has a .449 wOBA against fastballs over that span. While Aaron Judge can be deadly when he gets his pitch, he can be susceptible against breaking balls and off-speed pitches. In 2019, Judge has a whiff rate of 52.9 percent against breaking balls, and a staggeringly high whiff rate of 61.9 percent against off-speed pitches. While Judge struggles to make contact with both breaking balls and off-speed pitches, the approach to get him to do so varies drastically. Against breaking balls thrown out of the zone, Judge has a whiff rate of 89.1 percent versus a whiff rate of just 30.4 percent on breaking pitches thrown in the zone. However, when swinging at off-speed pitches out of the zone, Judge has a whiff rate of 75 percent versus a whiff rate of 53.6 percent. As we can see, Judge’s whiff rate varies a lot more drastically on breaking balls than it does on off-speed pitches. Knowing this, the Twins pitchers should focus more on using off-speed pitches, rather than breaking balls when trying to get a pitch over the plate, without having to give in and throw him a fastball. Now that we have a plan of action for the pitchers against Aaron Judge, let’s take a look at how the fielders should line up against him. Download attachment: chart (18).png From the Aaron Judge spray chart pictured above, we can see two things. The first and most obvious is the large percentage of groundballs that he hits to the left-side of the infield. The other obvious thing is that Judge rarely hits fly balls to left field, and when he does, they usually go over the fence. To defend against him, the Twins should have their outfielders shade slightly to right-field so they will have a better chance at catching the larger portion of his fly balls that actually stay in the ballpark. Edwin Encarnacion There have been some concerns on the Yankees front about Edwin Encarnacion’s availability for the ALDS. However, reports have been promising, and it does indeed appear as though Encarnacion will be ready to go. With Encarnacion back in their lineup, it adds yet another power-hitting righty into the middle of the lineup that the Twins need to be ready for. While Encarnacion is a big power-hitting righty, like Aaron Judge, Encarnacion and Judge aren’t as similar as you might think. While Judge’s ability is built around excelling at certain aspects of the game, while having holes in other aspects of the game, Encarnacion is much more balanced in his skills. Despite being such a feared power hitter, Encarnacion has a modest 21.2 percent strikeout rate in 2019. This means, the Twins won’t be able to take advantage of his swing and miss tendencies like they can with other hitters in the Yankees lineup. Another thing Edwin Encarnacion does well, is hit against both right-handed and left-handed pitchers. In 2019, Encarnacion has a .244 average and a 121 wRC+ against righties, while he had a .245 average and a 152 wRC+ against lefties. Encarnacion is about as well-balanced as a player can be against all pitch types. In the chart below, we can see that his wOBAs against fastballs, breaking balls and off-speed pitches are nearly identical in 2019. This gives Twins pitchers flexibility to face Edwin Encarnacion with a much more balanced approach than they can with many of the other hitters in the Yankees lineup. Download attachment: Edwin Encarnacion 1.PNG One thing that does remain the same with Edwin Encarnacion, in comparison to the rest of the Yankees lineup, is his propensity to pull the ball on the ground, as we can see in the spray chart below. Additionally, much like Gary Sanchez, the Twins should be able to take advantage of Encarnacion’s extremely slow running ability by playing their infielders deeper to cut off more of the groundballs Encarnacion hits, while still having time to throw him out at first. Download attachment: chart (19).png Gleyber Torres The final Yankee hitter that we will be previewing in this series is Gleyber Torres. The thing that has become quite apparent with Torres in 2019, has been his inability to hit breaking balls. For Torres, it’s not so much that he swings and misses at a lot of them, but rather his ineptitude of putting breaking balls in play with any authority. The chart below features Gleyber’s barrel percent, and whiff rate against fastballs, breaking balls and off-speed pitches, in 2019. Download attachment: Gleyber Torres 1.PNG One thing that the Twins pitchers shouldn’t have much trouble doing is getting Gleyber Torres to swing at bad pitches out of the zone, as he had a chase rate of 35.1 percent in 2019. For reference, that is almost right in line with C.J. Cron’s 35.6 percent chase rate this season. Now let’s take a look at Gleyber’s spray chart. Download attachment: chart (21).png While Torres also hits a large number of groundballs to the left side of the infield, he does hit just enough balls in the vicinity of where a second basemen traditionally plays, to where I think it makes more sense to play Torres straight up. As we can see from these breakdowns, the Yankees will be sending power-hitting righty after power-hitting righty at the Twins pitchers all series long. This makes it imperative that they keep the ball in the yard at all costs, and not let this lineup slug their way to victory. To do so, they will need to avoid pitching into the Yankee hitters' strengths, and attack their weakness, as I have highlighted here. Click here to view the article

It was a scary sight in Kansas City on Saturday, when Minnesota Twins rookie sensation Luis Arraez collided with Willians Astudillo on the pitcher’s mound while trying to catch a pop up in the seventh inning of the Twins 4-3 win. Arraez immediately went to the ground in obvious pain. Fortunately for the Twins, the X-ray came back negative, so there are no broken bones, but just what appears to be a severely sprained ankle. While this means Arraez might be able to recover in time to return later in the postseason, if the Twins were able to make a run, I would find it hard to imagine that he will be back and ready to go for the ALDS that starts less than a week after he suffered the injury. So, until we hear otherwise, it might be best to start operating under the assumption that Arraez won't be available against the Yankees in the ALDS.Perhaps the most obvious impact of losing Luis Arraez is losing his quality bat from the Twins' lineup. Among the 10 Twins hitters with at least 300 plate appearances in 2019, Arraez’s .334 batting average and .399 on-base percentage lead the team. In fact, among all MLB hitters with at least 300 plate appearances this season, Arraez ranks third and ninth in those two categories respectively. On a team filled with home run hitting power left and right, it is imperative to also have a few guys in the lineup who excel at getting on base to help turn many of those home runs into two- and three-run shot. Part of what makes Arraez so successful is his approach at the plate. He treats every single pitch he sees like it might be his last and is fearless when facing some of the best pitchers in the game. Another impact of losing Luis Arraez, is going without his versatility defensively. While Arraez isn’t an elite defender, he has surprisingly held his own throughout the diamond. The Twins haven’t had an issue with versatility most of the season, thanks to having two utility players in Marwin Gonzalez and Ehrie Adrianza. However, with both of them fighting through injuries as well, that leaves the Twins versatility limited and very much in doubt. Fortunately for the Twins, it does sound like Gonzalez should be ready to go for the ALDS, but if something were to flare back up, which seems all the more likely at this point, that could really impact what matchups Rocco Baldelli can play around with through the series. So, how will the Twins go about replacing Luis Arraez? The first thing to figure out is who will take his spot on the roster. Personally, my money would be on Willians Astudillo, as he can also provide some defensive versatility himself. While Astudillo is a downgrade from Arraez, he can help replicate to at least some extent what Arraez brings to the Twins. In addition to that, this makes Jonathan Schoop’s role in the series that much more important, as he will now need to step up as the Twins starting second baseman in likely every game this series. This might not be all that detrimental, as three of the Yankees five starting pitchers are left-handed, and Schoop has a much better OPS versus lefties (.917) than he does against righties (.736) this season. However, with the return of Luis Severino to the Yankees rotation, Luis Arraez would have been the perfect hitter to set up the top of the order with, if that is the route Rocco Baldelli would have chosen. Overall, the loss of any one give player for a postseason series is often over emphasized, as these series are such a small number of games, at least in baseball terms. However, when you factor in the lose of Luis Arraez with the losses of Byron Buxton, Michael Pineda, Sam Dyson, Ehrie Adrianza and with other players, like Max Kepler, Marwin Gonzalez and C.J. Cron, dealing with nagging injuries, it starts to add up. Hopefully, Arraez can make a speedy recovery, and the Twins can get past the dreaded Yankees, so Arraez can make a return to the Twins roster for the later part of a postseason run. Click here to view the article

The New York Yankees lineup is set up in a way to strike fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers. Their relentless barrage of slugger after slugger helped them score more runs this season (943) than any team since 2007. They also hit a staggering 306 home runs, a number topped only by this year’s Minnesota Twins. As many Twins fans saw in that Yankees series at Target Field in July, the Yankee lineup can pounce on a pitching staff at any moment, and practically carry their team to victory. This is why it is imperative that the Twins pitchers have a plan in place for attacking each hitter, if they want to “slay the dragon”.In Part 1 of this two-part series, we will be breaking down the strengths and weakness of DJ LeMahieu, Gary Sanchez and Giancarlo Stanton, and finding the best approach for the Twins pitchers and fielders against each of them. DJ LeMahieu DJ LeMahieu has quietly been one of the best all-around players in the American League this season. Not only has he filled in well at three different positions in the infield, but his bat came to play, as his 136 wRC+ ranked 21st among all qualified MLB hitters in 2019. What makes LeMahieu so successful is that he doesn’t have many weaknesses. Here are LeMahieu’s wOBA versus each pitch type, and what percentile they rank in Major League Baseball this year. Download attachment: DJ LeMahieu 1.PNG When breaking down LeMahieu’s splits versus lefties and righties, it comes as no surprise that he is a much better hitter versus lefties than he is against righties, given that LeMahieu is a right-handed hitter, as he has a 182 wRC+ against lefties vs a 119 wRC+ against righties. To get a better idea on how to approach LeMahieu, depending on the hand of the pitcher, lets take a look at the same chart as above, but this time broken down by opposing pitcher handedness. Download attachment: DJ LeMahieu 2.PNG From these charts, it is clear that Twins pitchers should avoid throwing off-speed pitches, such as changeups and splitters to LeMahieu altogether. Their main approach should be to pepper LeMahieu with fastballs in and force him to hit his way on base. For right-handed Twins pitchers, they should be able to work in some breaking pitches against LeMahieu as well. Another part of DJ LeMahieu’s game that is quite apparent is his approach at the plate. Illustrated below is DJ LeMahieu’s spray chart from the 2019 season. Download attachment: chart (15).png From this spray chart, the part that is most clear is DJ LeMahieu rarely pulls the ball in the air. The Twins defenders should take advantage of this by having all their outfielders shade pretty significantly towards right field. Additionally, it would make sense to have Jorge Polanco shade a little more towards the third base bag to help cut off the large amount of ground balls LeMahieu hits in the hole between shortstop and third. Gary Sanchez When it comes to facing Gary Sanchez, the key is to avoid letting him make contact. Fortunately for the Twins, Sanchez makes this pretty easy, as his contact rate of 70.2 percent ranks 237th out of the 273 hitters with at least 300 plate appearances in 2019. Sanchez especially struggles to make contact with breaking balls, as his contact rate on them is just 59.2 percent this season. Another way to induce Sanchez to swing and miss is by getting him to chase fastballs up and in on his hands. While avoiding contact is an optimal strategy with any hitter at the plate, Gary Sanchez is one of those hitters where it seems especially important, as he barrels the ball up roughly one out of every five times he puts the ball in play. That’s the fourth highest among any hitter who put at least 200 balls in play this year. A big reason for this is the pull heavy approach that Sanchez has at the plate, as you can see in the spray chart down below. Download attachment: chart (16).png Gary Sanchez’s ground ball distribution is almost exclusively pulls down the third base line. The Twins shouldn’t have much trouble exploiting this with a three-man shift on the left side of the infield. Another thing the Twins should take advantage of is Sanchez’s speed, or lack thereof, as his sprint speed of 25.5 feet per second is down near the bottom of the league. This should allow the Twins infielders to play further back to cover more ground laterally, and still have enough time to make the throw over to first to get Sanchez in time. Giancarlo Stanton (Note: All statistics for Stanton are from 2018, due to limited sample in 2019) When it comes to facing Giancarlo Stanton the approach is simple: feed him breaking ball after breaking ball after breaking ball. Whether it is a righty or a lefty on the mound for the Twins, it doesn’t matter, just don’t throw anything straight to Stanton. In 2018, Stanton whiffed at 45.8 percent breaking balls that he swung at. Since he struggles mightily vs. breaking balls against lefties, it is probably their best option to try to get Stanton out, unless they possess an excellent changeup. To illustrate this point further, here are Stanton’s wOBA breakdowns by pitch type and pitcher handedness in 2018. Download attachment: Gincarlo Stanton 1.PNG Just as was the case with Gary Sanchez, the Twins should be able to employ an extreme pull shift to the left side of the infield when Giancarlo Stanton is up at the plate, as we can see from his spray chart down below. Download attachment: chart (17).png While Stanton isn’t the fastest of runners, at 26.8 feet per second, he still has enough speed where the Twins probably won’t be able to take advantage of it by playing deeper in the hole, like they can for Sanchez. In the outfield, the Twins should pretty much just play straight up, as Stanton's spray is pretty even on balls in the air. As we can see the Yankees order can provide quite the challenge, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to attack them to keep their lineup in check. The key will be for the Twins to take each hitter one at a time and do what they can to get that hitter out. Stay tuned later in the week, as we will be featuring three more juggernauts in the Yankees order in Part 2. Click here to view the article

Two of the best teams in the American League squared off in Minnesota tonight, and the result was perhaps the most exciting baseball game we have seen in quite some time. Sure, there have been a couple 18 and 17 inning marathons at Target Field of late, along with that series against Oakland over the weekend that we are still coming down from, but tonight’s game takes the cake. Unfortunately, the Twins came up short, but they had to have gained a ton of respect from baseball fans across the nation for the fight they put up tonight. And hey, lost in all this, the Blue Jays walked-off the Indians so the Twins didn’t lose any ground in the standings.Box Score Gibson: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 56.4% strikes (57 of 101 pitches) Home Runs: Polanco (15), Cruz (21), Sano 2 (16) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (3 for 5, HR); Rosario (2 for 6); Sano (2 for 6, 2 HR); Arraez (2 for 5); Castro (2 for 4) WPA of +0.1: Sano .502; Garver .262; Adrianza .176; Arraez .162; Polanco .135; WPA of -0.1: Rogers -.619; Harper -.441; Stewart -.402; Parker -.266 The Yankees got the scoring started in the top of the first, thanks to a two-out, two-RBI, two base-hit off the bat of Didi Gregorius. It appeared as though Kyle Gibson was about to work himself out of the first inning jam by striking out Yankee slugger Luke Voit. However, it wasn’t meant to be, as Gregorius drilled the first pitch of his at-bat deep to the left centerfield gap, giving the Yankees a quick two to nothing lead. The Twins were able to answer back with a run in the bottom of the second when Luis Arraez ripped an RBI single up the middle drive in Eddie Rosario for the Twins first run of the game. After an impressive walk from Ehrie Adrianza loaded the bases, the Twins failed to capitalize on yet another bases loaded situation. Things got a little bit dicey in the top of the third when the Yankees themselves loaded the bases with two outs. However, this time Kyle Gibson was able to get out of the jam by getting Gary Sanchez to pop out to Jorge Polanco to end the inning. The Bombasota Twins came out to play in the third inning when Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz went back-to-back for the second game in a row, becoming the first Twins duo to accomplish that feat in the team’s history. Additionally, the Polanco home run was his 15th of the season, which set the Twins record for most players to hit 15 home runs in a season with seven. Ehrie Adrianza got the Twins fourth going with a leadoff double to right field. After a Domingo German wild pitch advanced Adrianza to third, Jason Castro drove him in with an opposite field single. The Twins were able to load the bases up again after a Jorge Polanco single and Nelson Curz was hit by a pitch. Eddie Rosario then bounced into an RBI groundout, brining in the Twins fifth run of the game. The Twins weren’t done in the inning, however, as Miguel Sano came up big with a three-run Sanodoubter into the upper deck in left field. This was Sano’s 15th home run of the year, extending the Twins record to eight. It didn’t take long for the Yankees to answer right back with a three-run home run of their own off the bat of Didi Gregorius in the top of the fifth. Much like the first inning, Kyle Gibson appeared as though he was on the brink of getting out of a jam, but Gregorius yet again made Gibson pay for filling the bases early in the inning. In the bottom of the fifth the Twins answered right back with yet another run. Jason Castro leadoff the inning with his second opposite field single in as many at-bats. Max Kepler then advanced Castro to second on a chopper to the first basemen before Jorge Polanco drove Castro in with an RBI double, extending the Twins lead to nine to five. Cody Stashak made quite the first impression, giving the Twins two much needed scoreless innings, while striking out three Yankee hitters. They weren’t the smoothest of innings, however, as Stashak did give up four hits. However, when it mattered most, buckled down and got some big outs to keep the Yankees off the board. The lack of depth in the Twins bullpen reared its ugly head in the top of the 8th, when the Twins had to turn to Blake Parker to protect the lead against the Bronx Bombers. Parker proceeded to walk the leadoff hitter, before allowing doubles to three of the next four Yankee hitters, and before you know it the Twins lead was cut to one. Tyler Duffey then came in to try and get the Twins out of the jam. He came in and struck out Edwin Encarnacion and appeared to strike out Luke Voit, but what should have been ruled strike three was instead ruled ball four keeping the inning alive for, you guessed it, Didi Gregorius who came through yet again with another two-out, two-run, two-bagger to give the Yankees a 10 to 9 lead. In previous years, the Twins would have been deflated by this crushing blow and folded, however, the 2019 Twins are not the Twins of old. After Nelson Curz leadoff the inning with a ground out, Eddie Rosario reached on an infield single, setting the table for yet another Sanodoubter to give the Twins back the lead. In came Taylor Rogers to close the door on the Yankees in the 9th. After he picked up two quick outs, you thought to yourself, no way this is a repeat of what happened on Saturday, but unfortunately that is exactly what happened. Rogers then walked the Yankees 9th hitter and then proceeded to give up a go ahead two-run home run to Aaron Hicks, giving the Yankees a 12 to 11 lead. Aroldis Chapman then came in to close the door on the Twins, but they still had some fight in them. Ehrie Adrainza, Mitch Garver (who pinch hit for Jason Castro) and Max Kepler drew three straight walks to load the bases with nobody out. Jorge Polanco then put together a great plate appearance that ended with a hard-line drive into the outfield that off the bat appeared would be in the gap. Unfortunately for the Twins, Yankeed left fielder Mike Tauchman tracked it down. Adrianza was able to score on the play, tying the game. The Twins were unable to add any more runs, after a Nelson Cruz flyout and an Eddie Rosario blooper was snared down by Didi Gregorius. In the top of the 10th the Twins had to turn to Kohl Stewart to keep the game tied. After DJ LeMahieu lined a ball off Stewart that deflected right to Luis Arraez for the first out of the inning, Didi Gregorius came to the plate, and you can just about guess what happened. Gregorius lined a base hit to left field and got a Yankee rally of three straight hits to take back the lead going. When all was said and done the Yankees scored two and took a 14 to 12 lead into the bottom of the 10th. The Twins faced another big challenge in the bottom of the 10th, this time trying to come from behind against Adam Ottavino. Miguel Sano began the inning by striking out looking, before Ottavino seemed to lose all sense of control. He proceeded to walk Marwin Gonzalez and Luis Arraez. Ehrie Adrianza then hit a hard ground ball up the middle, but Didi Gregorius made a nifty play to almost turn two and end the game. Then it was Mitch Garver’s turn at the plate, and just like in his pinch-hit plate appearance in the 9th, he drew a big walk. With the bases loaded and two-outs, Aaron Boone turned to Chad Green to face Max Kepler. Kepler worked himself into a 2 and 1 hitters count and got a pitch to drive, and that’s exactly what he did with it, but yet again it was former Twin Aaron Hicks who crushed Twins fans hopes and dreams with this amazing diving catch to end the ballgame. Had that ball gotten down, it would have very likely cleared the bases and been Kepler’s third walk-off hit of the season. Rocco Baldelli with some very honest comments following the game. Baldelli also noted that there would be roster moves before tomorrow night's game, but did not give any specifics. Bullpen Usage Here is a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days Next Three Games Wed vs NYY, 7:10 pm CT (Happ-Odorizzi) Thur at CHW, 7:10 pm CT (Berrios-Giolito) Fri at CHW, 7:10 pm CT (Pineda-Cease) Last Game Twins Game Recap (7/22): Twins Turn Triple Play, Mitch Garver Homers Twice in Win Over Yankees Click here to view the article