Yankees Comeback against Twins and Hold on for 6-4 Game One Victory ALDS

By Gary W. Marchese Jr.

Minneapolis, MN (Oct 7) – The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins by the score of 6-4 last night.

The Twins had a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning and Francisco Liriano the starting pitcher was cruising. Liriano had only given up two hits up to that point but the Yankees were able to get four hits and four runs in that inning.

C.C. Sabathia was not at his best but he grinded it out and kept the Yankees in the game. Sabathia pitched six innings giving up four runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts. There was one run that was unearned when Jorge Posada let a ball hit off his glove/hand and roll to the backstop to cost the Yankees a run.

The bullpen held the Twins down for the final three innings. Dave Robertson, Boone Logan, Kerry Wood, and Mariano Rivera shut the door. The Yankees have beat the Twins in three division series over the last seven years and it is always the same story. The Twins usually get a lead, blow it late and the Yankees hold on with Rivera closing it out.

Logan got insignificant outs giving up one hit; Robertson got a huge strikeout of Jim Thome and gave up a walk. Wood got two outs in the eighth inning but gave up a hit and a walk. Rivera gave up a hit that was not really a hit in 1 1/3 innings of work.

Mark Teixeira had a double and two run home run that became the game winner. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, walk and stolen base, Curtis Granderson had a big two run triple and Posada had a couple of hits with one being a big RBI single. Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano each had a hit, Cano had an RBI as well.

The Twins built a three run lead with two runs in the second inning on a Michael Cuddyer two-run home run and a third run in the third inning on a passed ball by Posada. The Yankees were not doing much of anything against Liriano the Twins starter until the sixth inning.

The Yankees got a double from Teixeira, a walk by Rodriguez and a single by Cano to put the Yankees on the board. The Twins had a 3-1 lead at this point. Marcus Thames struck out but then Posada came up with a big RBI single that was just out of the reach of second baseman Orlando Hudson. The score was 3-2 Twins and it was a new ballgame but the Yankees were not done yet, Granderson came up with a two run triple that knocked Liriano out of the game and assured he could not get a win.

The Yankees had a 4-3 lead but the Twins tied it in the bottom of the inning. The Yankees would add two more runs in the seventh inning on a two-run home run by Teixeira. The Yankees would hold on for the final three innings to win 6-4.

The win saw the Yankees beat the Twins for the 10^th time out of their last 12 postseason games. Rivera picked up his 40^th career postseason save and out of those an amazing 31 have been for more than three outs. Sabathia was not at his best and the Yankees should feel fortunate that they were able to come back and win this game.

The Twins have to feel snake bitten as they see the same thing happen repeatedly against the Yankees. The series will go to game two in Minneapolis this evening with Andy Pettitte going up against former Yankee Carl Pavano. I do not even know if he could be called a former Yankee because in four years he was not seen from much at all.

Pavano has had a very good year with the Twins racking up 17 wins; he had nine as a Yankee in four years. The Yankees would love to hit him around and go up 2-0 in a series that will shift to New York Saturday night.

The two teams will travel tomorrow and have the day off. This is necessary win for the Twins and the Yankees have to play like they have the house money, they want to win every game but they already did their job by winning at least one game on the road. If they hold serve at home then they will win the series.

The game will begin at 6:07PM tonight where once again weather does not seem to be a problem in the outdoor Target Field.

Posted by gmarchesej on October 7, 2010. Filed under Breaking News,News and Sports with Gary W. Marchese Jr.,Sports,US Sports,Yankees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.