Girardi maintains optimism as Yanks drop another series
MINNEAPOLIS » Jose Berrios was coming off his worst start of the season, during which his personal trainer spotted some stiffness on the right side of his delivery.
He loosened up. The Minnesota Twins did too, with an early burst.
Miguel Sano hit a three-run home run, Jose Berrios went strong into the seventh inning and the Twins beat New York 6-1 on Wednesday to win their first home series against the Yankees in nine years.
Berrios (9-3) allowed only one run, his fewest in 11 starts, on a two-out single by Brett Gardner in the seventh before being removed.
“I think he got a little more confidence back,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “He got back on track, and he looked like a different guy with the lead.”
Berrios improved to 6-0 in seven afternoon turns this season and helped drop the Yankees to 0-8-2 in their past 10 series.
Last weekend at Houston, Berrios was pulled with two outs in the second inning after allowing four hits, three walks and seven runs, though only two were earned.
Zack Granite sparked a twoout, six-run surge by the Twins in the second inning against Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery (6-5) with a two-run single, his first major league RBIs.
Eduardo Escobar tacked on an RBI single before Sano crushed an 0-2 curveball that hung over the plate into the bullpen for a 6-0 lead.
“I was ready for any pitch he put in the zone that I can drive to the wall,” said Sano, who has 23 homers this year.
Montgomery (6-5) recovered and completed six innings, but the damage was done during the 38-pitch second inning that yielded a career-high six runs allowed. The Twins went 4 for 30 with runners in scoring position over the first two games of the series, but they were 3 for 7 in this one.
“Definitely gave me a second wind,” Berrios said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, but it definitely helped.”
Montgomery was the first lefthanded starter to lose to the Twins in eight matchups since David Holmberg on June 21 with the Chicago White Sox. In those past seven such games, the Twins scored a total of nine runs off those lefty starters.
“It just snowballed, and I couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Montgomery said.
Despite a 10-22 record in the past 32 games, Yankees manager Joe Girardi stressed optimism.
“I just feel like we’re poised to make a good little run here,” he said. “I like what our pitchers are doing and the way they’re competing. Offensively, we’ll get going and we’ll put things together.”