New York Yankees: 3 takeaways from weekend split with Minnesota Twins

After going 4-2 on a six-game road trip against the Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Guardians, the New York Yankees returned home to kick off a homestand against two teams that will give Aaron Boone’s team their toughest tests early in 2023.

The Minnesota Twins entered Yankee Stadium for a four-game series, to be followed by Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, and the Los Angeles Angels. Before the Twins series started, the Yankees found themselves already in a hole in the American League East standings behind the impressive Tampa Bay Rays, who started 13-0 before dropping two out of three over the weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

It’s not a secret that the Yankees have had a lot of success against the Twins, not only in the regular season, but also in the playoffs. Minnesota landed in New York in first place in the American League Central early in the season and they are expected to be near or even at the top of the standings when the regular season ends in October.

The series didn’t start out well for the Yankees as the Twins flexed their muscle in the first two games, winning 11-2 and 4-3 in two different ways. They jumped out with nine first-inning runs in the first game, before rallying for a late win in the second game. The Yankees were able to earn a split by winning the final two games.

With a series split done, here are three takeaways from the weekend in the Bronx.

Yankees’ bats heating up with home runs

They aren’t called the Bronx Bombers for nothing.

Anthony Rizzo got the home runs started in the first game and accounted for the only two New York runs with homers off of Joe Ryan and Cole Sands. One night later, Volpe and Judge both went deep off of Louis Varland in the opening inning before Giancarlo Stanton hit one in the sixth inning off the Twins’ starting pitcher.

In the Yankees’ 6-1 win on Saturday, Kyle Higashioka hit one in the fourth inning off of Tyler Mahle, then Rizzo hit his third of the series in the sixth inning. Of course, they closed the series with a home run for the fourth consecutive game when DJ LeMahieu went opposite field in the sixth inning on Sunday.

It’s no secret that playing 81 games in Yankees Stadium helps the Yankees with the short porches, but when they struggle to score runs, they struggle to hit the long ball. You know what you’re going to get from Judge and Stanton, who is the type of player that either it’s a home run or nothing. Getting Rizzo hot is another key at home with the short right field and Franchy Cordero has been a pleasant surprise in his early New York career.

Before the series final on Sunday, Boone announced that Stanton was being placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained hamstring. That will put more pressure on Judge, Rizzo, and company to pick up the slack in his absence.

Gerrit Cole continues early-season dominance for Yankees

Gerrit Cole is the Yankees ace and, so far in 2023, he’s pitching like one. His best performance to date was Sunday in a masterpiece.

Cole was dominant from the start. He was able to throw any pitch in any count for a strike. He went the distance, allowing two hits and striking out 10. His curveball was very good, he was able to spot his fastball, which was his best pitch and, with Jose Trevino behind the plate, the two had a connection on each pitch. In the ninth inning, Cole started the inning with a change-up for a strike. He was feeling it.

Cole needed just 109 pitches for the complete game. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning as he improved to 4-0 this season with a 0.95 ERA in five starts. Cole and Nestor Cortes have been far and away the Yankees’ two best starters so far this season.

Given the way the series started with the first two games, the Bombers were able to battle back and get a split. The home run ball played a big part in the series, Cole was dominating in the series finale and they held Correa down after the first two games.

If you’re the Yankees, take the split and get ready for the Angels, who have started their road trip losing three games at Fenway Park to the last-place Boston Red Sox.