Aaron Judge, Carlos Rodon propel Yankees past Twins for seventh straight win
If you need another example of how off-kilter the Yankees were last season, they actually dropped their season series to the Twins.
The same Twins that the Yankees have routinely pummeled over the past several years — decades? Maybe more?
Now, the Yankees are back atop the AL East and back to treating the Twins like a glorified Triple-A team.
That continued Wednesday night in front of a lively crowd of 43,202 in The Bronx, as the Yankees used a four-run first inning to spark a 9-5 win.
“They’re a really good team,’’ Anthony Volpe said of Minnesota. “I feel like when we’re doing our thing and performing the way we’re capable of, I don’t think the opponent really matters. We’ll take us over a lot of people.”
Especially these days.
The Yankees matched their season-high with a seventh straight victory and remained tied with the Phillies for the best record in the majors.
Wednesday night’s win was sparked by a season-high five RBIs by Aaron Judge, strong defense and six strong innings from Carlos Rodon.
Rodon retired the first 16 batters he faced — aided by a terrific running catch by Alex Verdugo to end the top of the second, with Verdugo running facefirst into the left-field fence.
Carlos Santana homered to right off Rodon with one out in the sixth for the Twins’ first base runner.
By then, Rodon’s pursuit of perfection was about the only drama left at the Stadium.
The Yankees jumped on Minnesota right-hander Chris Paddack immediately, as Volpe laced a 101-mph single to center to lead off the bottom of the first.
Juan Soto’s soft base hit put runners on the corners for Aaron Judge, whose grounder to second scored Volpe.
Giancarlo Stanton ripped an RBI single before the slumping Anthony Rizzo doubled to left, sending Stanton to third.
Gleyber Torres then hit a fly ball down the right-field line that a diving Manuel Margot couldn’t come up with and it went for a two-run, ground-rule double to make it 4-0.
Paddack responded by getting the next 10 batters in a row until DJ LeMahieu opened the bottom of the fifth with a walk.
The Yankees broke the game open that inning, as they loaded the bases before Judge cleared them with a triple.
Judge then scored on a sacrifice fly by Verdugo on a close play at the plate — which ended with Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers’ glove somehow landing in front of the Yankees’ dugout after it popped off when Judge slid into it.
“Definitely a hold-your-breath moment,” Boone said.
It was the Yankees’ second four-run inning of the game.
“It’s just a tough group to navigate,” Boone said of the lineup, which scored nine runs despite not hitting a home run. “We’ve got a really good offense. The homer is a big part of that, but what we’re seeing is a group of hitters night in and night out taking tough at-bats.”
They produced enough that even when Rodon finally faltered a bit in the sixth, the left-hander had plenty of cushion.
After Santana’s opposite-field homer, Kyle Farmer singled and Manuel Margot doubled.
A Carlos Correa sacrifice fly made it 8-2, but Rodon finished the inning. He ended with a season-best nine strikeouts.
Dennis Santana was shaky in relief of Rodon, giving up three runs over two innings before Michael Tonkin finished it.
