Yankees rally for third straight win in Minnesota

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins on Saturday afternoon.  The game took place at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the final score was 7-6.  Michael Pineda started for the Yankees and he pitched just ok.  Aroldis Chapman struggled to close out the game.  Carlos Beltran and Didi Gregorius each had three hits to lead the Yankees offense. 

Pineda pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up six hits and four runs with three of them being earned.  He walked none and struck out nine.  Anthony Swarzak pitched 1 2/3 innings striking out two, Andrew Miller earned his fourth win of the season pitching an inning and giving up a hit and striking out two and Chapman saved his 13th game of the season pitching an inning and giving up two hits and two runs with two strikeouts. 

Ricky Nolasco started for the Twins and he pitched seven innings giving up eight hits and two runs with no walks and five strikeouts.  Buddy Boshers pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run, Kevin Jepsen pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout and Fernando Abad pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and three runs with two walks and he took his first loss of the season.  Ryan Pressly pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out two. 

Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits and two RBI, Brett Gardner had a hit and an RBI and Beltran had three hits and two RBI.  Alex Rodriguez had a hit and two RBI, Chase Headley had a hit and drew a walk and Gregorius had three hits.  Rob Refsnyder had a hit and drew a walk, Rodriguez hit a homerun and Beltran hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Pineda committed an error and Ellsbury had an outfield assist. 

Eduardo Nunez had two hits, Brian Dozier had two hits and Max Kepler had a hit.  Byung Ho Park had a hit and three RBI, Eduardo Escobar had two hits and two RBI and Kurt Suzuki had a hit and an RBI.  Kepler hit a double and Dozier hit a triple.  Park, Escobar and Suzuki each hit a homerun and the Twins were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base.  Nunez and Dozier each had a stolen base.  Centeno had a passed ball. 

In the second Escobar hit an RBI single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth Park hit a two run homerun to increase the lead to 3-0.  Park hit a sac fly in the sixth and it was 4-0 Twins.  Rodriguez hit a two run homerun in the seventh to cut the lead to 4-2.  In the eighth Beltran hit a two run homerun to tie the game at four.  In the ninth Ellsbury hit a two run single giving the Yankees a 6-4 lead.  Gardner hit a sac fly to push it to a 7-4 lead.  In the bottom of the ninth Escobar hit a solo homerun to cut the lead to to 7-5 and Suzuki hit a solo homerun to make it 7-6 but that would be the final score. 

The Yankees have taken the first three games of the four game series and the teams will play the fourth and final game of the series on Sunday afternoon.