Sunday, June 19

The Twins were at Home Today...

and they rallied and won, beating the Yankees.

By PAT BORZI
...
Brian McCann broke a lengthy slump with two long home runs among his three hits. But the Yankees, leading by 2-0 in the fourth and seemingly on the verge of sweeping four games from the last-place Twins, could not quell a decisive four-run Minnesota rally in the sixth, one that featured two bloop hits and an acrobatic slide by Trevor Plouffe around McCann’s tag.
...
McCann had been 0 for 15 and batting .125 since returning from a hyper-extended left elbow when he homered in the second inning, a drive reaching the edge of the second deck in right-center. His homer leading off the ninth landed on Target Plaza beyond the right-field seats.

“Instead of weak ground balls to the second baseman, I was able to get through the baseball and drive it,” McCann said. “I’ve been swinging at good pitches. When I get ready to hit the baseball, I’m cutting my swing off, not getting through it. Today is a good day.”

But the Twins, who blew a 4-0 seventh-inning lead in Saturday’s loss, rallied to avoid being swept in a series for the 10th time this season.
You take the good news where you can...
Eduardo Escobar tripled in two in the sixth to give Minnesota the lead, the second run scoring when Plouffe evaded McCann’s diving tag. The plate umpire, Paul Emmel, called Plouffe out, but a video review reversed the call. McCann did not argue.

“I don’t know if I got his jersey or not,” McCann said. “You don’t know because you’re just diving. You just hope for the best. He made a good slide and slid over my glove.”
Good slide! There you go...
Two Minnesota errors in the eighth — a bad throw by reliever Taylor Rogers and a grounder through first baseman Plouffe’s legs — let in one run and brought Carlos Beltran and Rodriguez to the plate with one out, each with a chance to tie the game with one swing. ...

Neither succeeded. The left-hander Rogers fanned Beltran swinging at a curve, and the right-hander Brandon Kintzler got Rodriguez on a slider, prompting Rodriguez to pound the plate once with his bat.
Whew! That was close....

The Yankees are finding bright linings too...
Rodriguez chose to be optimistic. He and Beltran are hitting. McCann broke his slump. The Yankees averaged six runs a game on this trip. And Mark Teixeira begins a rehabilitation assignment on Tuesday.

“I think we’re chipping away,” Rodriguez said. “For us, it’s been frustrating that we get to that threshold of .500 and take a step back.”