Minnesota Twins stun New York Yankees 5-4 – MLB Update
The New York Yankees suffered another blow on Tuesday, April 5 when the Minnesota Twins stormed back into a match that was clearly one-sided and won 5-4 at Yankee Stadium.
The game kicked off with CC Sabathia pitching for New York. He was splendid in the start, giving absolutely no chance to the likes of Denard Span, Tsuyoshi Nishioka coupled with Joe Mauer and Delmon Young of the Twins to play his pitching. Without any hits,
it was the Yankees that came forward aggressively, taking the crowd’s breath away. While Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher were provided no ample opportunity for a hit, Mark Teixeira went on a rampage as he hit Brian Duensing of the Twins and homered to left, Jeter
and Swisher helped score the first inning homer.
That lead caught the Twins off-guard who then seemed helpless in the face of Sabathia’s raging pace, something that gets compounded once the pitcher comes in. Like the first inning, none of the batters were able to score runs, apart from two hits. The Yankees
came back hard forcefully when Andruw Jones hit Brian Duensing and homered to left. The match was totally in the Yankees’ control by then.
In the following innings, if there was one individual on the field that was attracting notice of the crowd, it was Sabathia. He had such a striking monopoly on the game that no Minnesota player was apparently able to play him. Importantly, it was Sabathia
that had strengthened the belief that the game was all set for the Yankees to win effortlessly. However, sometimes the edifice of belief crumbles, as it was standing on a precariously shaky base. So it happened with the Yankees.
It was at the top of 8th inning when the Yankees had seemingly an unassailable, but vulnerable offense. Once Rafael Soriano came out to pitch for the Yankees, relieving Sabathia, New York witnessed an extraordinary movement. If the decision to
bring him had not lacked the tactical clarity, it did somehow betray a severe mishap in terms of a strategy. It was Joe Mauer and Delmon Young that brought calamity to the Yankees, if not Soriano who proved a bad omen for the team. Especially Young whose unstoppable
hit helped the Twins scored three runs.
It was then followed by the Yankees’ decision to rely on Boone Logan to pitch that Joe Mauer turned into an account, profiting what Logan could involuntarily give. Mauer singled to right which was helped by Span and Nishioka. That was convincingly the end
of the New York’s venture into a victory once they came at the bottom of 10th inning. They were unable to face Joe Nathan with the degree of confidence requisite in such moments. The match went to Minnesota’s favour there and then.
Regrets will certainly haunt the Yankees for their lack of ability, or best offensive means, to contain the Twins once the former had a sufficient 4-0 lead. What the match clearly established was the fact that the Yankees have a far from invincible bull-pen.
In such a situation, the Yankees have to devise a far more practical strategy to, at least, save the game that they could have easily won.
Tags: