Twins 6 – Yankees 1
Scott Brosius was back in the Yankee lineup last night, with starter Andy Pettitte set to return today and Chuck Knoblauch later in the week, it’s not a moment too soon for the suddenly-slumping Bombers.
In the first two games of this series, the lowly Twins have played like the team with the budget approaching nine figures, and the Yankees have been the squad looking like a bargain-basement outfit. They fielded poorly, pitched worse and couldn’t hit at all in last night’s 6-1 loss to Minnesota in front of a crowd of 27,372 at the Stadium.
They’ve dropped four of five, while the Twins – who handed the Yankees their first home loss of the year Monday – have won seven of eight, including the first two games of this three-game series by a combined score of 13-4.
“We’re scuffling right now. We’re not playing well,” said Joe Torre. “We’re not pitching well. Hopefully it’s a short-term thing.
“We [just] need a well-pitched game. Things change quickly when somebody goes out and takes control.”
Ramiro Mendoza (2-2) clearly wasn’t in control last night, suffering through his second straight bad start. He pitched behind in the count all night, giving up eight hits and five runs in 51/3 innings, after his six-run, four-inning showing Friday against Toronto.
Mendoza was so-so at best, and the way the Yanks hit – or didn’t hit – nothing short of a shutout would’ve helped.
Sean Bergman (2-0), picked up off waivers in the offseason, pitched six shutout innings before allowing a lone run in the seventh. And Minnesota gave him more than enough support against Mendoza, who had great stuff but subpar command.
“I thought I threw pretty well. I’ll just have to work harder next time. I just had a little bit of bad luck,” Mendoza said. “I was getting behind, trying to be too fine, to pick at the corners. That’s why I was [behind].”
He was behind on the scoreboard when the Twins took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on two solo shots. Todd Walker turned on the first pitch he saw from Mendoza, and drove the inside, belt-high fastball off the foul-pole screen in right field. Two pitches later, Mendoza hung a 1-1 changeup to Cristian Guzman, who golfed it off the facade in the right-field loge.
Minnesota added another in the third. Marcus Jensen doubled into gap in left-center. The next batter was leftfielder Jacque Jones, who stroked a single to left that plated Jensen for a 3-0 lead.
Meanwhile, MBergman was coasting along, dominating the Yankees through five innings. The only hits he’d allowed were a pair of harmless singles – to Derek Jeter in the first and a bloop to Ricky Ledee in the second. But Ledee was gunned out when he unwisely tried to stretch it into a double, and the Yanks couldn’t manage another hit or muster another rally.
The Twins put up two more in the sixth. After Mendoza walked Ron Coomer to lead off the inning, Corey Koskie hit a bloop to left that fell in front of Ledee. Two batters later, Jones singled to plate Coomer, moving Koskie to third and chasing Mendoza. He left to a smattering of boos as Jason Grimsley came on in relief. Even though Grimsley got Torii Hunter to ground out to short, Koskie came home for a 5-0 Minnesota lead.
The Yanks rallied with runners on first and third in the sixth, but Jorge Posada hit into a double play to end the inning. And the Twins added more insurance in the seventh.
Grimsley tried to pounce on Matt Lawton’s one-out dribbler, but threw the ball wildly to first, allowing Lawton to take second. Coomer singled him home.
The Yanks finally got a run in the home seventh. Brosius (0-for-3) walked and Wilson Delgado singled to chase Bergman. Jim Leyritz, the DH, singled off reliever Travis Wilson to load the bases and Jeter plated Brosius with a sacrifice fly. But the inning ended when Paul O’Neill fanned.
“[Mendoza] had such good stuff,” Posada said. “But the other guy pitched a good game. It’s just frustrating.
“The whole night was disappointing,” Posada said. “We’re not worried about the sweep. We’re just worried about playing good ball. We’re not having fun, playing the kind of ball we’re capable of.”
