The Twins Josh
Willingham, named the American League Player of the Week (Period ending April
15th ) and who had hit safely in each of the Twins first 10 games (now
11), got the Twins on board on the top of the second inning with his 5th
home run of the season (had been tied for first in HRs). Missing from the Twins
lineup was Justin Morneau – batting .452 in 11 career regular season games in
New York.
The
Yankees tied the game on a walk to Curtis Granderson who advanced to second
base on a balk* by Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano; later reached third on a
bunt single by Eduardo Nuñez and scored on a RBI double down the left field
line by Brett Gardner.
The
Twins who usually leave New York with a feeling of rejection if not outright dejection
(The Yanks have a home 175-110 win-lost advantage and an overall 334-245 record
against them) regained the lead with two runs the following inning; had their center
fielder Denard Span and skipper Ron Gardenhire ejected from the game on the top
of the 3rd.
Span
on what appeared to be an argument on balls and strikes with the plate umpire
Greg Gibson, and the skipper for standing up for his player. He would later
say: “He (Span) got ejected, and then I said my piece. I got dejected and then
ejected.”
On
that bottom of the inning Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia balked** second baseman
Alexi Castilla who singled after one out. Clete Thomas, in for the ejected Span
doubled in a run and would later score on an RBI single by short stop Jamey Carroll.
So, in consecutive innings each pitcher had a balk; this would not necessarily
be a sign of what was to come, but in case someone is into premonitions, why
not…
But
the Yankees answered back with 4 runs in the bottom of that frame; this got
Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano out of the game: would be 0-2 and would be
winless in his career at Yankee Stadium. Skipper Gardenhire would say after the
game: “It was a battle. It’s a battle for him right now. He’s not able to
execute well enough.”
Then
the Yankees added a run in the, 4th, 5th and 7th
innings. A highlight of the scoring was Yankees second-string catcher Chris
Stewart driving in two runs with single to left. Later he would add another RBI
in the bottom of the 7th after a Brett Gardner steal of second base.
Steward wound up with 3 RBI (a career high).
The
second highlight came in the 4th on Andrew Jones’ homerun, his
second of the season. Jones was batting fifth in place of not-in-the-lineup
first baseman Mark Teixeira, scratched from the lineup due to flu-like symptoms.
C.C.
Sabathia would not allow another hit from the 4th through the 6th
and faced one batter in the 7th; he got that one out before David
Robertson replaced him on the mound. CC. would strike out 7 and allowed only
one base on balls.
David
Robertson is part of a bullpen that is second in the American League with a
2.36 ERA behind Texas and fifth best in the Majors before tonight’s game.
On
another note: Derek Jeter who needed 7 RBI to tie Bill Dickey (1,210) got two
tonight.
So
with all the mini-highlights – not leaving out Brett Garner’s sparking catch earlier
in the game, and not to be mentioned, a fan running on the field in what would be “on the field
delay,” – would be an 8-3 Yankees win with the Yankees Ace gaining his first
win of the year.
* (baseball 101:
a balk is a technicality on the pitcher’s movement: stepping towards the plate
and throwing to first. It awards a runner (s) to advance to the next base.
Written for Latino Sports.
