Yanks advance to ALCS after sweeping Twins

New York has won 13 straight in playoffs against Minnesota.

MINNEAPOLIS — The last time the New York Yankees won the World Series, a full decade ago, Gleyber Torres was not yet a teenager in Venezuela.

Boosted by an age-defiant performance by their 22-yearold star second baseman, the Yankees moved one step closer to that elusive trophy. Torres got New York going with a second-inning home run, scored after each of his two doubles and made a pair of sparkling defensive plays, fueling the Yankees to a 5-1 victory over Minnesota on Monday night that finished yet another Division Series sweep of the Twins.

“He’s a really special player,” first baseman D J LeMahieu said. “No moment’s too big for him.”

Didi Gregorius hit two RBI singles, Cameron Maybin homered, and Aroldis Chapman struck out three in a fiveout save for the Yankees, who completed the three-game wipeout and pushed their postseason winning streak over the Twins to 13 games. LeMahieu, Gregorius and Aaron Judge also made outstanding defensive plays for key outs.

“All we did was to go out there and play our best baseball,” said Gregorius, who went 4 for 10 with six RBIs in the series and is 23 for 50 with seven homers and 33 RBIs in his past 14 games against Minnesota.

Following a 103-win regular season and their first AL East title since 2012, the Yankees will start the AL Championship Series on Saturday, either at Houston or at home against Tampa Bay.

With the Yankees employing an aggressive shift that had him in shallow right field, Torres slid and scooped a sharp grounder by Eddie Rosario with two on in the fifth and managed to throw him out to end the inning. In the seventh, Torres made a slick stop on a grounder by Jorge Polanco and flipped to Zack Britton covering first. Torres even stole third base after his double in the ninth.

“He played so well in this series, and then today, I think, just continued to show the world just how good a player he is on both sides of the ball,” New York manager Aaron Boone said.

Torres became the fifth-youngest Yankees player to hit a postseason homer, with only Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Tony Kubek and Derek Jeter doing it at younger ages. The last time the Twins beat the Yankees in a playoff game? Torres was only 7.

AL Central champion Minnesota became the first 100win team swept in the Division Series and dropped to 2-16 against the Yankees in the playoffs, including 0-13 since winning the 2004 ALDS opener.

Minnesota has lost 16 consecutive postseason games, tying the North American major sports record set by the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks from 1975-79.

Yankees starter Luis Severino pitched out of trouble for four scoreless innings in just his fourth big league appearance after recovering from a spring training lat muscle injury, escaping a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the second.