Gary Sanchez and Miguel Andujar both homered and the New York Yankees took advantage of four Minnesota errors to snap their four-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory over the Twins in the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, Sanchez and Andujar each had two hits and Andujar also scored three times for New York. Jonathan Loaisiga (5-2) picked up the win in relief.
Ryan Jeffers had two hits and two RBIs and Ryan Refsnyder and Trevor Larnach also had two hits for Minnesota. Taylor Rogers (2-3) suffered the loss.
Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with three hits off New York starter Jordan Montgomery. Josh Donaldson singled and advanced to third one out later on a single by Miguel Sano. Jeffers then lined a 3-2 pitch down the left field line to drive in both Donaldson and Sano.
The Yankees came back to tie it in the fifth with both runs coming in to score without a hit. Andujar walked with one out and Brett Gardner and LeMahieu followed with singles to load the bases. Aaron Judge then walked to force in a run and Gardner later scored on a wild pitch to tie it.
New York took a 3-2 lead in the sixth when Sanchez lined a single, went to third on a double by Rougned Odor and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gardner.
The Twins tied it in the bottom of the sixth when Larnach singled and scored on Refsnyder’s double off the top of the fence in left-center.
New York then parlayed three singles with two Minnesota errors to push across two runs off reliever Rogers and take a 5-3 lead in the eighth. Clint Frazier led off with a pinch-hit single and went to second on a single by Andujar. Gardner then sacrificed Tyler Wade, who pinch-ran for Frazier, to third and Andujar to second. With the infield in, LeMahieu then hit a grounder to second baseman Jorge Polanco, who then threw wildly to home to allow Wade to score. Andjuar then scored on a fielder’s choice by Judge.
The Yankees broke the game open with three runs in the ninth off reliever Griffin Jax, who was making his major league debut. Gio Urshela led off with a bloop single and Sanchez then lined his seventh home run of the season into the bleachers in left-center. One out later, Andujar hit his fourth homer of the season, a 449-foot blast into the second deck in left-center.
–Field Level Media