Last season, the New York Yankees dropped the season series to the Minnesota Twins for the first time since 2001 and finished with 82 wins.
This season, the Yankees are winning consistently, and things are back to normal for them against the Twins.
New York will attempt to make it five straight wins in the season series Wednesday night when it hosts Minnesota.
After sweeping last month’s visit to the Twins, the Yankees opened this series with a 5-1 victory on Tuesday. Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer, Gleyber Torres had a solo shot, and Aaron Judge contributed a two-run double to extend his on-base streak to 30 games.
Those hits helped the Yankees win their sixth consecutive game, which is one shy of their longest winning streak of the season, set from May 12-19. New York is a season-best 24 games over .500.
“It’s unreal when we’re all clicking on all cylinders,” Stanton said. “We don’t even have to click on all cylinders.”
New York also is 105-42 in the regular season against the Twins since the start of the 2002 season. The Yankees have outscored them 19-2 this season after dropping four of the seven meetings in 2023.
The Twins are hitting .128 (16-for-125) against the Yankees this season and on Tuesday tied a season low with two hits while striking out nine times. Christian Vazquez doubled and Royce Lewis homered in the seventh inning after being sidelined since the season opener with a quadriceps strain.
Lewis, who also homered in his season debut, reached base three times Tuesday and has reached base in all five of his plate appearances in 2024. He also has 19 homers in 72 career regular-season games.
“I just had a great, focused day,” Lewis said. “I tend to do that when the lights are a little bit brighter.”
After Luis Gil pitched six innings of one-hit ball, left-hander Carlos Rodon (7-2, 3.09 ERA) will attempt to win his sixth straight start on Wednesday.
Since getting tagged for seven runs over four innings on May 2 at Baltimore, Rodon is 5-0 with a 2.38 ERA. He picked up his latest win Thursday after allowing three runs on three hits in six innings in an 8-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Rodon is 7-3 with a 4.35 ERA in 13 career appearances (12 starts) against the Twins. He last faced them on May 14 in Minnesota and allowed one run in six innings in New York’s 5-1 victory.
Right-hander Chris Paddack (4-2, 4.57 ERA) will attempt to end a four-start winless skid on Wednesday. Since striking 10 in 5 1/3 innings of a 6-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on May 8, Paddack is 0-1 with a 4.94 ERA — although it is inflated by the five runs he allowed against the Yankees while opposing Rodon last month.
Paddack has allowed two earned runs or less in seven starts this season, including twice in his winless skid. He allowed four runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings during a no-decision in his team’s 7-6 victory against Kansas City on Thursday.
Paddack is 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in two career starts against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media