New York Yankees’ 2011 MLB Regular Season journey – Part 2
The New York Yankees won their first Series in the 2011 regular series from their league rivals Detroit Tigers and their impetus was at their best. Yankees were ready to host the Minnesota Twins for the four-game series, which they won 2-1.
All four games were crucial and the fans had an entertaining series right from the start of the season.
In the first game, the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada drilled two home-runs in the first two innings of the outing at Yankee Stadium on April 4. Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera closed down the game with an excellent innings to take the club into
their third win of the 2011 regular season.
Alex Rodriguez launched his first home-run of the season in the first inning and then Jorge Posada followed with his gritty hit to take the Yankees into a 4-3 lead.
Twins first struggled and then moved closer with two consecutive good innings. They scored a double in the top of the fourth and the then a single in the fifth to reduce the lead.
Winning a dominant first outing had provided the Yankees unmatched excitement and they took on the Twins again with an ambition for another win. However, the Twins made an excellent comeback in the latter half of the innings and managed to tie the series
with a 5-4 win in the tenth inning.
Yankees had taken a 4-0 lead until the second inning and Carsten Charles Sabathia was brilliant. He held the opposition scoreless over his seven innings and struck-out six batters. However, as soon as he left the mound, Rafael Soriano received some serious
blows. He gave away four runs one a single hit over his innings and the game was levelled at 4-all.
Both teams struggled but the game moved into the tenth inning in which the Twins scored a single to take a 5-4 lead. Yankees batting could not make anything happen in the bottom of the inning and received an unexpected defeat.
Game three could not be played because of the heavy rain on April 6.
The series was tied 1-all and the Yankees landed Allan James Burnet against Francisco Soriano. He made strong outing but gave away two runs over five hits in his six innings. However, Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano along with Rivera helped him in taking
his second win of the season.
Nick Swisher, Adam Jones, Russell Martin and Brett Gardner each scored a RBI single to help his club into their series winning 4-3 triumph.
In the seventh inning of the game, Swisher slid into the Twins starter, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who had his lower leg broken. Swisher was worried but the Twins stated that the play was clean and it was not the fault of Swisher.
"He definitely eased my mind," Swisher said. "He told me, 'Hey, it's not your fault. Don't feel bad.' I know I play hard, but you never want to go in there trying to hurt anybody."
It was the Yankees second straight series win and the manager Joe Girardi now had abolished all the doubts from his mind that he developed during Spring Training. The next trip was to face off against the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees old rivals from April
8 to 10.
Continue in Part 3
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