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Yankees snap 7-game skid with comfortable win over Twins
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- Yankees snap 7-game skid with comfortable win over Twins
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The New York Yankees ended their seven-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night at Yankee Stadium, improving to 128-46 (.736) against Minnesota since 2002, including the postseason. The Yankees are also 69-19 against the Twins at Yankee Stadium during that stretch and have now won 12 of the last 14 meetings between the teams.
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Gerrit Cole (3-3) earned the win after pitching five innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out seven and issuing no walks. Cole retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced, with the only early damage coming on Kody Clemens ' two-out solo home run in the first inning. After Brooks Lee struck out to end the third, play was halted for 53 minutes because of rain.
During the delay, Cole stayed loose by throwing multiple bullpen sessions before returning to the mound. He surrendered an RBI single to Victor Caratini in the fourth but completed the inning. Although manager Aaron Boone initially planned to remove him after 78 pitches, Cole remained in the game and finished a scoreless fifth before exiting after 88 pitches.
New York answered Clemens' first-inning homer immediately when Trent Grisham , playing his first game since June 12 after recovering from a strained right hamstring, led off the bottom of the first with a home run against rookie right-hander Mike Paredes. Grisham finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs, adding a sacrifice fly later in the game.
Following the rain delay, Grisham singled in the third to set up Ben Rice , who broke a 1-1 tie by driving a full-count fastball from Paredes into the right-field seats for a two-run homer. Rice's 24th home run of the season gave the Yankees 3-1 lead. Entering the game, Rice had managed only two hits in his previous 25 at-bats. New York also scored more than four runs for the first time in 13 games after averaging just 2.6 runs per game over their previous 12 contests.
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Ryan McMahon , activated from the injured list before the game, doubled to begin the seventh inning. Jose Caballero followed with an RBI single, later stole second, advanced to third, and scored on Grisham's sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 5-2.
Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn combined for two scoreless innings, each recording two strikeouts. Fernando Cruz escaped a bases-loaded threat in the eighth by retiring Royce Lewis , and David Bednar , back from the paternity list, struck out all three hitters he faced in the ninth for his 17th save.
For Minnesota, Clemens finished with a homer and a double, while Caratini drove in the Twins' other run. Paredes (0-2) allowed three runs on four hits over four innings. Minnesota also played without Byron Buxton , who missed his fourth straight game because of right hip impingement.
Next up, right-hander Zebby Matthews (4-5, 4.15 ERA) will take the mound for Minnesota on Saturday against Yankees rookie Brendan Beck (0-0, 6.00 ERA), who will be making his major league starting debut.
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