AL wildcard game:
Gregorius, Judge lift Yanks over Twins
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and a brilliant bullpen rescued New York from a rugged start and lifted the Yankees to their first postseason victory in five years.
Gregorius’ three-run homer tied the score after Minnesota knocked out Luis Severino in the first inning, a pumped-up Judge showed his most emotion this season when he hit a tworun shot in his playoff debut and the Yankees beat Minnesota 8-4 on Tuesday night in the AL wild-card game.
Brett Gardner also homered for the Yankees, who chased Ervin Santana after two innings and once again eliminated the Twins from the playoffs.
Chad Green, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle and Aroldis Chapman combined for 82⁄3 innings of one-run, five-hit relief, striking out 13 to tie the postseason bullpen record.
“It was just remarkable,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
New York opens a best-offive Division Series on Thursday at AL Central champion Cleveland.
“We’re not done yet,” Judge said.
The Twins lost their 13th consecutive postseason game, tying the record set by Boston from 1986 through ’95. The first team to rebound from a 100loss season and make the playoffs the following year, they have been eliminated by the Yankees in five of their past six postseason appearances and have not won a playoff series since beating the A’s in 2002.
Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run and Eddie Rosario hit a two-run drive as the Twins burst to a quick lead and stunned the sellout crowd of 49,280 at Yankee Stadium.
Santana was little better than Severino, going to full counts on eight of 11 batters. Gregorius erased the lead four batters into the bottom of the first, and Santana was removed after six outs and 64 pitches with the Twins trailing 4-3.
“You can sit here and try to imagine if it was 0-0 after the first what it would have felt like compared to scoring three and giving three back,” Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. “It’s the exhilaration of jumping out ... and then the deflation of giving it back so quickly.”
Judge, the 6-foot-7 native of Linden (San Joaquin County) who set a rookie record with 52 home runs, was given a Ruthian ovation, with several sections of fans holding signs in his honor spelling out “All Rise!” He scored three runs, hitting a single to help ignite the first-inning rally, smoking a 108 mph home run off Jose Berrios in the fourth, and walking ahead of scoring on a basesloaded walk in the seventh.
Judge shouted in excitement as he rounded first base after the homer, his face flush with emotion. “This place was rocking. It was incredible,” he said.
New York had made only one postseason appearance since 2012, losing the 2015 wild-card game to Houston 3-0. Just three Yankees who started that game were in the starting lineup.
Zack Granite replaced the Twins’ Byron Buxton in the fourth, two innings after the center fielder crashed into the wall robbing Todd Frazier of an extra-base hit.