The disappointment for the Yankees, of course, is that the schedule gives them just one more date against the Twins this season.
That will be Sunday and then it’s back to the Major League portion of the schedule.
The Yankees again took care of business Saturday afternoon vs. baseball’s worst team, eventually squeezing out a 2-1 victory in front of at 40,075 the Stadium.
After Sunday’s contest against the Twins (23-51), the Yankees (37-36) will face the AL-West leading Rangers for four games starting Monday.
Saturday’s winning rally came in the eighth inning against righty reliever Ryan Pressly starting with, of all things, an infield hit off the bat of Alex Rodriguez. Joe Girardi sent in Aaron Hicks to pinch run and the reserve outfielder took third on Brian McCann’s single down the rightfield line.
Mark Teixeira, activated from the DL earlier in the day, struck out and Starlin Castro, with the infield in, sent a ground smash off shortstop Eduardo Escobar. The error allowed Hicks to score to make it 2-1. McCann was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Chase Headley’s fly to short left to end the inning.
For the third straight game, Girardi deployed his big arms in the back end of the bullpen and for the third straight game, the trio was dominant.
Dellin Betances struck out one in the seventh, Andrew Miller fanned two in the eighth and Chapman, though he allowed a two-out single in the ninth, notched his 15th save in 16 chances.
Up-and-down righthander Michael Pineda, who has been mostly down this season, pitched well, allowing one run and six hits over six innings. Pineda struck out eight and walked one in lowering his ERA to 5.51 from 5.82.
He allowed a second-inning homer to Brian Dozier that gave the Twins a 1-0 lead.
The Yankees tied it in the fifth against Ervin Santana (one run and six hits over five innings) on Carlos Beltran’s RBI single in the fifth.
..... - Newsday