For six innings Saturday, the Minnesota Twins lived a pretty charmed life. Even the seventh inning wasn’t so bad, as starter Ricky Nolasco had cruised to that point and danced out of danger with a 4-2 lead intact.
But things came apart in the eighth, and got even worse in the ninth as the Twins fell 7-6 to the New York Yankees in front of 30,760 fans at Target Field.
Nolasco faced just two over the minimum through six innings, as he erased baserunners on double plays in the first and third innings, and allowed harmless singles in the fourth and fifth with 1-2-3 second and sixth innings mixed in.
“I didn’t feel particularly well coming out for the first few innings,” Nolasco said postgame. “It was one of those days where I knew it was going to be important to locate and try and keep them off balance. It worked out. I just tried to go deep in the game, understanding the pen has been taxed.”
The Twins had staked Nolasco to a 4-0 lead as he entered the seventh. One run came in the second as Max Kepler hit a one-out double into the right field corner, took third on a deep Byung Ho Park flyout and scored on an Eduardo Escobar single. The Twins added a pair in the fourth on an opposite-field home run from Park — a 409-foot blast that was his 12th home run of the year and first in 10 days. The Twins added a single tally in the sixth as Brian Dozier singled to left, stole second and took third when Kepler grounded to first baseman Ike Davis.
Davis’ flip was mishandled by Yankees starter Michael Pineda at first base, and he and Kepler collided at the bag on a play that was ruled an error on Pineda. Kepler was down for a while and pointed to his left quad, but popped up before too long and was able to stay in the game. Former Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak relieved Pineda, and promptly gave up a deep sacrifice fly to Park that allowed Dozier to score, with Kepler thrown out at second on the backend of the play.
That gave the Twins a 4-0 lead with a starter cruising on a low pitch count. The situation did not hold.
Carlos Beltran led the seventh off with a swinging bunt down the third base line that Eduardo Nunez couldn’t barehand, and probably wouldn’t have had a play even if he had. Alex Rodriguez followed that with an opposite field, first-pitch home run to right to cut the Twins’ lead in half. Nolasco regrouped to get Brian McCann — who came into Saturday’s game mired in an 8-for-70 slump since homering off White Sox reliever Nate Jones on May 15 — with a swinging strikeout before allowing a Chase Headley single to find himself working out of the stretch again.
Didi Gregorius followed with a fly ball to left, but again the Yankees followed with another base hit, this time off the bat of Rob Refsnyder. That brought manager Paul Molitor to the mound, with a decision to make with lefty Buddy Boshers ready to pitch and lefty Davis due up next. Molitor opted to stick with Nolasco, and Davis nubbed a first-pitch splitter back to the pitcher allowing Nolasco to dance out of danger with the 4-2 lead intact.
That was the end of the day for Nolasco.
Boshers took over in the fateful eighth, and got a deep fly out off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury before Brett Gardner beat out an infield hit to short. Molitor brought in deposed closer Kevin Jepsen, who had thrown five straight scoreless appearances since being lifted from the ninth-inning role, to face Carlos Beltran.
Jepsen got ahead 1-2 before Beltran blasted a changeup to the opposite field for a game-tying home run. “It was a changeup that stayed up,” Jepsen said of the pitch that Beltran hit out. “He’s a great hitter. Obviously the location wasn’t where I wanted it. With that said, he stayed on it and went to left field with it, and it went over the fence. Off the bat I didn’t think it was going to. It just kept going.”
Jepsen bounced back to strike Rodriguez out looking before Fernando Abad (1-1) came on to get the last out of the eighth.
But that meant the game was tied, and any game that’s close late means you’ll have to contend with part or all of the Yankee’s late-inning bullpen trifecta. Andrew Miller (4-0) was the first out of the gate, and threw a clean inning with one hit allowed and a pair of strikeouts. That got the Yankees to the ninth inning with the game still tied, and that’s where they put up their third crooked number in a row.
Abad started the ninth by walking Headley, which was followed by a perfectly-executed drag bunt by Gregorius for a hit. With two on, a passed ball by Twins catcher Juan Centeno opened up first base, so the Twins opted to walk Refsnyder for the chance to face Davis again — this time with the bases loaded. Yankees manager Joe Girardi countered with pinch hitter Starlin Castro, and Molitor countered that with righty Ryan Pressly.
Pressly managed to strike out Castro swinging, but with the infield in — rather than back for a possible inning-ending double play — Ellsbury smoked a rocket between Dozier and Joe Mauer into right field to plate a pair of runs. Gardner added a sacrifice fly to plate Refsnyder, and cap the scoring from the Yankees side with a 7-4 lead.
The three-run advantage meant Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman (save, 13) was working with a luxurious lead. Through 17 appearances entering play Saturday, Chapman had allowed just four earned runs all season. Chapman got two quick outs as Robbie Grossman, who was pinch hitting for Kepler, fanned swinging and Park went down looking. Escobar followed with a skyscraping home run to left, his second of the season and second in as many days to bring the Twins to within two runs. Kurt Suzuki pinch hit for Centeno and did the same, blasting a 102-mph fastball from Chapman into the left field seats at a 101-mph exit velocity according to MLB’s StatCast data.
It’s unclear how often a home run leaves the park slower than it came out of the pitcher’s hand, but it must be pretty rare. Chapman regrouped to retire Trevor Plouffe, who was pinch hitting for Byron Buxton, on a grounder to Castro to nail down the save.
This marked just the second time in Chapman’s career that he’d allowed two home runs in any outing. Chapman allowed a pair of home runs on May 19, 2013 to the Philadelphia Phillies in a blown save and loss at Citizens Bank Park. Erik Kratz and Freddy Galvis took Chapman deep that day. Chapman only allowed three home runs all last season, and only allowed one in 2014.
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Up Next – RHP Nathan Eovaldi (6-3, 4.90) vs. RHP Ervin Santana (1-7, 5.10) – 1:10 p.m. Sunday
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Notes & Quotes
- The Twins have lost five games in a row, and eight in a row to the Yankees dating back to last July.
- Escobar and Suzuki’s back-to-back home runs were the fifth time the Twins had done so this season.
- Suzuki’s pinch-hit home run was the team’s second of the season (Eddie Rosario, April 19 vs. Milwaukee).
- Dozier (2-for-4) hit his first triple of the season, and improved his season slash line to .232/.327/.380.
- Mauer’s 28-game on-base streak was snapped with an 0-for-4 day.
- Kepler (1-for-3) has reached safely in eight of his last nine games.
- Nolasco on how he felt he pitched: “Overall I felt pretty decent. I made some pretty good pitches here and there and kept them off balance.”
- Nolasco on his conversation with Molitor when Davis was due up in the seventh: “He just asked me how I was feeling. I said I was good. Good to go, and ready to get this guy. I made a good pitch there with the split and it worked out.”
- Jepsen on how he tried to set up Beltran in that at-bat: “I was thinking once he pulled that second breaking ball foul; something straight…a changeup off that. Trying to go down and away. Get him to go after it like a fastball. I figure worst-case, I get it where I want to it’s a groundball double play maybe. It was up and he didn’t try to pull it. He stayed on it. He’s a good hitter.”
- Jepsen on where he’s at right now, after being removed from closer’s role and with how the season has gone: “Frustrated. Obviously, the season to this point has been unbelievably frustrating. But outside of what happened today, I feel good. It’s hard to come out here and say that after you give up a two-run homer to tie the game. But I really do feel good. The fastball, breaking ball and changeup feel good. The way it’s going right now, I made a mistake and I paid for it. I’m going to keep going with what I’m doing right now. The last few outings I’ve felt really good. We’ll go from there.”
