Granted, it’s never truly a surprise when the big market behemoth Yankees are contenders, but they were sellers at the trade deadline just past year, trading away closer Aroldis Chapman, fireman Andrew Miller, outfielder Carlos Beltran and starting pitcher Ivan Nova in a mini-rebuild of sorts. He’ll face Luis Severino, the Yankees’ 23-year-old breakout pitching star.
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Judge joined in the fourth inning with a two-run shot that padded a 5-4 lead. We get this out of the way and we’re going to Cleveland.
While the Yankees have the better team on paper, the Twins have one ace at their disposal, and they’re using him. By the time he left, after 29 pitches, the Twins had gotten him for two home runs and there were two more runners on, at second and third.
Judge, who set a rookie record with 52 home runs, was given a Ruthian ovation, with several sections of fans holding signs in his honor spelling out “All Rise!” There is, of course, some slight advantage to being a better team, and some advantage to having your best starter ready for Game 1, and some advantage to playing one more home game than your opponent in a series – all perks that come with winning the division. “I put the uniform on to win the World Series, that’s my goal”, Girardi said.
Severino holds a 14-6 record with a 2.98 ERA that’s good for third in the American League and 230 strikeouts. Jose Berrios (0-1) allowed three runs and five hits in three frames. That was the only career meeting with the Twins for Severino, who was 8-5 with a 3.71 ERA at home this year. Closer Aroldis Chapman has found his stride after his mid-season struggles, and setup men David Robertson and Chad Green have combined to give up just one earned run in the last 12 games.
It’s time to start the drive on the road to the fall classic tonight at 8 p.m. “We’re just excited to get past this and excited to go to Cleveland and excited about the opportunity”. “Hopefully that’ll kickstart us and get off the bat real quick there”. The Yankees rallied for for three runs off Santana in the bottom of the first, tying things up 3-3. It took them three games to defeat the Twins in both the 2009 and 2010 ALDS. The Yankees fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first but overcame the early deficit with home runs from Didi Gregorius, Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge and a stellar bullpen effort. Whatever energy was being charged since NY claimed the home advantage for this game left with Dozier’s swing.
The Twins had an horrendous 103 loss season last time out, and most believed just improving upon that was a more realistic target than getting into the postseason. “The intensity was definitely there”, Castro said. They haven’t played in a playoff series since 2012 (swept by the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS). So it is unique.
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Aaron Judge tailed off after the All-Star break, hitting over 100 points lower and slugging 143 points lower.
