Aaron Judge drove in five runs and Carlos Rodon pitched five perfect innings as the Yankees defeated the Twins 9-5 on Wednesday night.
Here are the takeaways…
-Rodon was there early and got the Twins in order for the first five innings, striking out eight batters. Alex Verdugo And Juan Soto also made great plays in the outfield, leaving the Yankee Stadium crowd buzzing that they could witness history.
However, after striking out one in the sixth, Carlos Santana drove a 97 mph fastball that went up and down to the right field seats. Santana scorched the ball for 110 yards, which would have gone 21 parks. With the perfect game and shutout over, the left-handed Yankees struggled to settle down, allowing for back-to-back hits. A sac fly later, Rodon powered his way through the sixth inning after throwing 30 pitches.
Rodon’s stellar evening was over after six innings (100 pitches/65 strikes), giving up two runs on three hits and striking out a season-high nine batters.
-The Twins’ continued victimization by the Yankees offense continued in the first inning on Wednesday. New York scored four runs on five hits, interrupted by one Gleyber Torres two-run double. Judge drove in the first run on a groundout to score Anthony VolpeAnd Giancarlo Stanton‘s RBI single that drove in Soto accounted for the four Yankees runs.
Judge would follow up with a bases-clearing triple in the fifth to give the Yankees a 7-0 lead. Verdugo’s sacrifice fly went over Judge for New York’s eighth run of the game. The Yankee Captain would drive in his fifth run of the game when he walked with the bases loaded in the sixth.
-With a lead of seven points, Aaron Boone brought in Dennis Santana as the first arm out of the bullpen. The righthander was ineffective, giving up three runs on three hits in his two innings of work.
It marks the second straight outing that Santana has allowed two or more runs, the last coming on June 2 against the Giants.
Michael Tonkin did throw a perfect ninth, including two strikeouts, to finish off the Twins.
-Volpe had another standout game, going 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored. He has now reached base in 31 straight games – the same as Judge – and has raised his average to .290, the highest since April 25.
Game MVP: Aaron Judge
Judge got the Yankees on the board first and put the game out of reach with his triple. He also helped give the Yankees an insurance run to give themselves some breathing room for the bullpen.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees conclude their three-game series against the Twins on Thursday night. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM
Marcus Stroman (5-2, 2.73 ERA) will be on the mound and Pablo Lopez (5-5, 4.84 ERA) will take the bump for Minnesota.
