Don’t Call It a Comeback: New York Yankees Sweep Minnesota Twins
May 18, 2009 · Micheal Robinson · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The Yankees didn’t need a walk off win this time, but managed to win.
With their sixth win in a row and a sweep of the Minnesota Twins, the Yankees did it all over the weekend. After three straight walk off victories, the Yankees grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first on Monday and never looked back.
Andy Pettitte surrendered a couple of first inning runs to put the Yankees behind early, but the bats came out swinging in Bronx shortly after.
Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon started the game off with singles and after a Glen Perkins balk, Mark Teixeira put the next pitch five rows back in left for a three run home run, his ninth of the year, to give the Yankees the lead.
Up next, Alex Rodriguez, on a full count, hit a screamer to left center that got out in a hurry, his fourth of the year. A-Rod has now hit a home run in each of the last three games.
Glen Perkins gave up three more runs before being replaced by R.A. Dickey in the first. The Yankees batted around and took a 6-2 lead. Derek Jeter had two singles in the first inning.
Twins outfielder’s Michael Cuddyer and Denard Span tried single handed to get their team back into it.
Cuddyer homered off of Pettitte in the fourt to draw the game within three and Span hit a run scoring single in the 6th to make it 6-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, Mark Teixeira sent a Luis Ayala pitch into the seats in right, his tenth of the year. For the second time this season, Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate and hit it to both ends of the field. He is starting to come around.
“Pitchers are just making a few more mistakes,” Teixeira said. “It puts a lot of pressure on them when Alex is in the lineup and, you know, a pitcher is not going to want to get into deep counts and maybe walk me with a guy like A-Rod behind me.”
Span homered in the eighth inning off of Edwar Ramirez to draw the Twins within two runs.
Span offered his displeasure for the past four games, “I can’t wait to get out of here,” Span said. “Not just the stadium, but the whole city.”
The Yankees went with Phil Coke for the save, giving Mariano Rivera the night off after pitching two innings on Saturday and one on Sunday.
Coke surrendered two home runs over the weekend and looked to bounce back in a big spot. Cuddyer got a run scoring ground out to get the Yankees lead to just one run, but it wouldn’t be enough.
The Yankees wound up winning 7-6, but it almost got to be a tie game again and who knows what would’ve happened after that.
“As they start chipping away, you start thinking about, oh boy, here we go again. We’re going to have another one of these nights,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
After the sweep of the Twins, the Yankees look to remain hot as they play the Baltimore Orioles for their third series with them, but first at Yankee Stadium
Brad Bergesen (1-1, 5.27) of the Orioles will face Yankees ace CC Sabathia, (3-3, 3.70).
The Toronto Blue Jays won again on Monday, so the despite the Yankees streak, they haven’t gained ground on the AL East leader, but the Red Sox are now just one game ahead of the Yankees.
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