JUST TWIN BABY!
Yanks’ biggest comeback of year KOs their personal punching bag
Gary Sanchez is mobbed after his 10th-inning single lifted the Yankees to a much-needed 6-5 win over the Twins. The Bombers were down 5-0 after three, but clawed back, tying it on Aaron Judge’s three-run HR in the eighth to improve to 21-2 vs. Minnesota in The Bronx since 2015.
Losers of eight of nine and with their season on life support, the Yankees quickly found themselves down by five runs to the hapless Twins on Monday afternoon.
They didn’t get a hit until Joey Gallo’s bunt single to lead off the fifth.
Then the Yankees finally came to life — thanks mostly to Aaron Judge, whose three-run homer tied it in the bottom of the eighth — before Gary Sanchez won it in the 10th against a Twins team that never fails to be the perfect foil for the Yankees.
“I know what we’re capable of at our best,’’ Aaron Boone said following the 6-5 win in The Bronx. “We’ve been a little bit of everything. It’s gonna take our best, but if we do that, we’ve got a chance.”
In the wild-card standings, the Yankees are a game behind the Blue Jays, who lead the Red Sox and Yanks by a game after Boston’s loss at Seattle on Monday night.
It all came after the Yankees — coming off a rough, long loss to the Mets at Citi Field on Sunday night — fell behind 4-0 in the first inning in a makeup of a game that was postponed Aug. 22 due to Hurricane Henri.
The Twins arrived in New York after playing a home game on Sunday — and have a doubleheader scheduled in Minnesota on Tuesday — but they were ready to go.
The Yankees fell behind 5-0 in the third before finally getting on the board in the sixth.
After they tied it in the eighth, they won it in the 10th.
With free-runner Gleyber Torres at second base, Gio Urshela failed to bunt him over and whiffed on an 0-2 bunt attempt for the first out before Sanchez ripped a game-winning single to left to score Torres.
It gave the Yankees their first win of the season in a game they’d trailed by four or more runs, as they improved to 1-35.
Not surprisingly, it came against Minnesota, as the Yankees improved to 21-2 versus the Twins in The Bronx since 2015.
The biggest blow came from Judge in the eighth, after Boone went to his bench to start the inning, with Anthony Rizzo pinch hitting for Tyler Wade. Rizzo walked on four pitches before Sanchez — hitting for Kyle Higashioka — flied to left and DJ LeMahieu flied to right.
Gardner walked, with the help of a questionable call by home plate umpire Jeff Nelson on a 3-2 pitch.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went to right-hander Alex Colome to face Judge, who drilled a three-run homer to right-center to tie the game at 5-5.
“That’s the guy you want up there, certainly,’’ Boone said.
Aroldis Chapman retired the first two batters in the ninth before Luis Arraez doubled to left to bring up Byron Buxton, who walked on four pitches. But Chapman got Jorge Polanco to fly to center to end the threat.
After the Yankees failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, Clay Holmes threw a scoreless 10th, setting up Sanchez’s heroics.
“It was really good to see the fight we had today,’’ said Gallo, who homered in the seventh to make it 5-2. “We could have easily let that game go. … We’re excited we’re in this race. We’ll give it everything we’ve got.”
The Yankees looked lost as the start, as Luis Gil gave up a tworun homer into the right-field bleachers to Polanco just three batters into the game. Miguel Sano added a two-run shot later in the inning.
But after Sano’s home run, Gil retired 12 of the next 13 batters — the one base runner being Buxton, who led off the third with Minnesota’s third homer of the afternoon to make it 5-0.
Still, the rookie right-hander did well to get through six innings before Andrew Heaney, Albert Abreu, Chapman and Holmes combined for four shutout innings, giving the Yankees’ lineup time to wake up.
“It’s a roller coaster,” Judge said of the season. “Enjoy the ride. It’s not over yet.”