Written By Brandon Warne (ColdOmaha.com)
A first-pitch, three-run home run for Didi Gregorius in the seventh inning against Fernando Abad snapped a 1-1 deadlock and capped the scoring in a 4-1 win at Target Field on Thursday night. Abad entered the game as one of just seven pitchers who had thrown at least 20 innings without allowing a home run this season, and it took all of one pitch for Gregorius to end all that with a 376-foot blast to right field.
Kyle Gibson (0-5) looked markedly better in his second start after coming off the disabled list. Gibson stayed behind while the team took a three-game road trip to face the Angels, and whatever extra work he put in showed early as he was considerably more sharp than he had been over the weekend against the Red Sox.
“I felt like I was in control for most of the game and executed pitches really well,” Gibson said postgame. “Then I threw a few too many non-competitive pitches, and didn’t attack well enough. That’s going to cause a frustrating outing.”
Gibson set down the first three batters he faced, and overall faced the minimum the first time through the Yankees order. In fact, Gibson faced the minimum through five innings, with some questionable baserunning by Alex Rodriguez and a groundball double play off the bat of Ike Davis coming to his aid. “I felt good tonight,” Gibson said of his physical state. “I felt a lot more consistent, and things I’ve been working on in the bullpen and in rehab, I was finally able to take them to the mound and use them in the game, which was good. I felt more like myself.”
The Twins broke through for their only run in the fourth inning against Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia (5-4). Max Kepler hit a one-out double to right field, and moved to third when Kurt Suzuki smoked a single off Sabathia’s left foot. After Byron Buxton struck out to end a nine-pitch at-bat, Eduardo Nunez hit a roller that snuck through the right side of the infield to plate Kepler for the club’s only run of the night.
Gregorius led off the sixth inning with a single through the shift, and moved to third base on a double into the right field corner by his left-side of the infield mate Chase Headley. Gibson walked Davis on four pitches to load the bases with nobody out, but danced out of danger after Jacoby Ellsbury singled home the tying run in Gregorius, as Brett Gardner hit a weak flare to Brian Dozier on the outfield grass, and Carlos Beltran grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
The floodgates opened up in the seventh, as the Yankees pushed across three runs to not only chase Gibson, but continue Abad’s diminishing returns against same-handed batters.
Rodriguez opened the inning by singling on a swinging bunt down the third-base line, and was followed by a walk to Brian McCann. Castro bunted both runners over, and Paul Molitor went to the bullpen to get the lefty. Gregorius, a left-handed hitter who entered the game hitting a robust .357/.400/.411 against lefties, wasted little time in depositing Abad’s first pitch into the right field seats. Abad rebounded to get the next two outs in quick fashion, but it was too little, too late.
The Yankees’ trio of late-inning relievers — Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Champan (save, 5) — combined for three shutout innings with four strikeouts and just one baserunner allowed — a Plouffe single to left field in the seventh.
After the game, the Twins announced they had designated outfielder Oswaldo Arcia for assignment to make room for returning utility man Danny Santana, who had been on the disabled list with his second hamstring injury of the season.
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Up Next: RHP Masahiro Tanaka (3-2, 3.08) vs. LHP Pat Dean (1-2, 4.17) – 7:10 p.m. Friday
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Notes and Quotes
- The Twins have lost six straight games to the Yankees dating back to last July, and are 5-17 at Target Field against the Bronx Bombers overall.
- The last home run Abad had allowed to a left-handed hitter was to Seattle’s Kyle Seager on Aug. 26, 2015 at Safeco Field.
- Byung Ho Park’s fifth-inning single snapped an 0-for-17 streak. He was hitless on the most recent road trip.
- With the loss the Twins fell to 20-46. This is the first time the Twins have been 26 games under .500 since ending the 2013 season 30 games under .500 (66-96).
- With two strikeouts in a scoreless inning of work, Michael Tonkin ran his season K/9 mark to 10.6. Twins relievers on the whole had a 9.0 K/9 mark entering play Thursday to rank 11th in MLB, far and away better than last year’s 6.9 mark (30th).
- Gibson on the frustration of how his night ended: “The frustrating part is that both of those rallies started with a pretty softly hit ball followed by a walk.”
- Gibson on working out of the jam in the sixth with just one run allowed: “That was a great feeling. I made a couple bad pitches there to Davis, and a couple crazy things happened there to get into the situation. Kurt and I had a really good plan all night. Beltran is a great professional hitter. Man he puts together some great at-bats all the time. I was able to set the sinker up really well with the changeup the pitch before — two changeups, I think — to start that at-bat, and then executed the fastball down and away.”
- Gibson on Abad’s rough outing after such a strong start: “Yeah, as a starting pitcher I don’t think it’s ever hard to see my runners cashed in. It’s just tough to see the team lose the game. He hadn’t given up a home run all game, and had been throwing the ball well all year. There aren’t too many guys I’d rather have come in for that situation. He’s going to get back out there, and it might be another 30-40 innings before he gives up another homer. He’s been great. It’s just one of those days.”
- Gibson on re-finding his groundball double play penchant: “A lot of it just comes with execution, and putting the pitch in the right spot. You can’t just always throw sinkers and expect that a guy is going to hit a groundball all the time. You’ve got to mix up the speeds and locations, and get his mind off it a little bit almost. I think that’s what I was able to do at times.”