The Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees wrapped up their three-game series Thursday afternoon with a match that could not end fast enough for the Twinkies. The Yankees finished the sweep with a 5-0 win at Target Field (box score). Since 2002, the Yankees are an absurd 120-44 against Minnesota, which is a 118-win pace across 162 games.
Anthony Volpe hit a leadoff home run Thursday, the red-hot Aaron Judge doubled twice, Clarke Schmidt struck out eight in a career-high eight innings, and the Twins failed to score for the second straight day. Ryan Jeffers opened the series with a leadoff home run Tuesday night and Minnesota did not score the rest of the series. That’s 28 straight scoreless innings after the Jeffers homer.
“Dominant. Just in complete control,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about Schmidt, who improved to 5-1 with a 2.49 ERA on the season. “I thought his stuff was great. He’s spinning the ball so well … He just executed his game plan really well.”
According to YES Network researcher James Smyth, this is the first time the Yankees have held an opponent to one run or fewer in a three-game series since the 1999 ALDS against the Texas Rangers. New York outscored the Rangers 14-1 in the three-game sweep. This is the first time the Yankees have done it in a regular season series since 1952.
The Yankees have bullied the Twins for a long time now, and they’re bullying everyone this season. Thursday’s win improved New York to an AL-best 30-15, and they lead the league in runs scored (216) and fewest runs allowed (149). They’ve done that even though Judge had a quiet April and reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole hasn’t thrown a pitch because of an elbow injury.
As for the Twins, Thursday’s loss dropped them to 24-19 on the season. Even with the sweep, the Twins have won 17 times in their last 23 games. They’ll visit Yankee Stadium from June 4-6 and, for Minnesota’s sake, I hope they manage to avoid the Yankees in the postseason, assuming both teams qualify.
