Yankees Sweep Twins Under the Carpet

Written by: Drew Sarver on 9th July 2009

Yankees Sweep Twins Under the Carpet | read this item

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	3	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	6	8	2
Minnesota	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	6	1

WP – Albaladejo (4-1) SV – Rivera (23) LP – Liriano (4-9)

The Yankees didn’t get what they had hoped for out of spot starter Al Aceves, but the bullpen stepped up and the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 6-4 to complete a 3-game sweep in their final regular season trip to the Metrodome. The Yankees also completed the season sweep, having beaten the Twins in all seven meetings.

While Aceves struggled in his first start of the year, his Twins’ counterpart, Francisco Liriano, had harder a time of it. The Yankees jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning with just one base hit. They loaded the bases on a walk to Alex Rodriguez, a hit batsman in Jorge Posada, and a Matt Tolbert error that allowed Robinson Cano to reach safely. Liriano walked Cody Ransom to force in the first run and a second run followed when Brett Gardner followed with a force out. Derek Jeter got the inning’s first base hit to score Cano for a 3-0 lead.

The Twins quickly came back against Aceves in their half of the inning on a Jason Kubel home run and a throwing error by Ransom, who got the start at third base so A-Rod could DH. The miscue allowed Michael Cuddyer, who got into scoring position with a walk and an errant pick off throw by Aceves, to score to cut the margin to 3-2.

The Yankees gave Aceves more breathing room in the 4th. Posada led off the inning with a single and moved to third on Cano’s double. Liriano retired Melky Cabrera on a shallow fly ball, but Ransom made up for his error with an RBI single. A Gardner RBI single made it a 5-2 game before Jeter bounced into an inning ending DP.

Aceves wouldn’t be around for the win though after the Twins loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning on consecutive hits by Cuddyer and Brian Buscher, and Mike Redmond was hit by an Aceves pitch. Dave Robertson struck out Nick Punto for the 2nd out of the inning, but issued consecutive RBI walks to Denard Span and Tolbert to cut the Yankees lead to 5-4. Amazingly, Joe Girardi stuck with Robertson to face Joe Mauer, but the move paid off. Mauer hit a routine grounder to Cano to end the inning.

Mark Teixeira snapped a 95 at-bat homerless streak with his 21st long ball of the season off of Liriano in the 5th and the Yankees’ pen slammed the door on the Twins. Jonathan Albaladejo, who picked up his 4th win, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes, and Mariano Rivera combined on 4.2 scoreless innings. Rivera, who earned his 23rd save, retired Mauer to end the game just as he had less than 24 hours earlier.

Game Notes

The Yankees have won 13 of 15 and 8 straight on the road. They venture to Anaheim where they have had more than their share of misadventures in the past. Joba Chamberlain faces Joe Saunders in the series opener Friday night (10 p.m. ET).

Brett Gardner was 5-12 (.417) in the series with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Jonathan Albaladejo has thrown 4 scoreless innings over 3 appearances since his recall to the majors on July 5.

Topics: al aceves, brett gardner, Francisco Liriano, Good riddance to the Metrodome, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, mariano rivera, Minnesota Twins, Phil Hughes, Yankees 7/9 recap, Yankees vs. Twins