Another Night, Another Victory for the Yankees Over the Twins

The Yankees continue to play superb baseball as they beat the Twins for the fifth straight time this year, and stretched their current winning streak to seven games with an easy 9-5 victory. They have now won 16 series, tied two, and lost two as they improved to 44-19. And down in Box Score Briefs, the Astros’ injury woes deepen, Paul Skenes meets Shohei Ohtani, and there were ex-Yankees doing all kinds of things around the league, most in very positive fashion. Lets get to it.

June 5: Yankees 9, Twins 5

There were a few things happening Wednesday night as the Yankees stretched their winning streak to seven games. Among them, Carlos Rodon was dominant for five perfect innings before things went a little awry during a grinding sixth. Aaron Judge drove in five runs, three coming on a triple which was his first since 2019. And, well, Dennis Santana sucks and should immediately be DFA’d.

But what I’d like to lead off with today following the Yankees’ seventh straight victory is the actual leadoff man, Anthony Volpe. Man, I absolutely love what this kid has done in his second season.

We all saw the possibilities of what he could become during his rookie season, but there was no doubt that he was trying to be someone he doesn’t need to be as a hitter. Sure, his 21 homers were nice, but the rest of his batting profile was terrible with a .209 average and a .283 on-base percentage.

The Yankees have enough sluggers in their lineup; what they needed were guys who could get on base and create havoc for those sluggers, and that’s what Volpe has done in 2024.

And for a 23-year-old kid to recognize his faults, then go to work in the offseason to revamp his swing and approach to his at bats, is really impressive, and look at these spectacular results - a .290 average, a .355 on-base, and thanks to a 3-for-5 performance Wednesday, a 31-game on-base streak. Last year, because he was never on base, he scored only 62 runs in 159 games. He has already scored 45 times in just 62 games.

“He’s been a really good player,” Aaron Boone said of Volpe, who may be the best leadoff hitter in MLB at the moment. “You’re watching an outstanding, all-around shortstop in the league. The at bats night in and night out, he’s aggressive, he’ll go up and attack you early, but at the same time it’s putting him in position to lay off pitches that he should be laying off. Using the entire field so well and just settling into that spot kind of perfectly.”

Judge and Juan Soto may be duking it out to be the frontrunner in the AL MVP race, but Volpe has been every bit as important to this Yankee turnaround in 2024.

Rodon said it best. “That kid, he's turning into quite the player isn't he?”

And yet when he was asked how he can improve, Volpe said in very Derek Jeter-like fashion, “Every aspect. I don’t think there’s any 23-year old that’s reached his peak or potential so I’m just working to improve everything. Where I hit, I try to have the same approach and help out the team any way I can. But I think I’m pretty fortunate to be hitting in front of (Soto and Judge).”

Here are my observations:

➤ Rodon was cruising as he retired the first 16 Twins he faced, but once Carlos Santana broke up the perfect game, no-hitter and shutout with one swing of the bat in the sixth, it was like all the air in his body exited and he really struggled to his finish line. He wound up allowing two runs on three hits and needed 35 pitches to get through the sixth which was a shame because that brought him to 100 for the night and Boone pulled the plug right there. Still, it was another fine performance by a starter.

➤ Thankfully that speed bump in the sixth really didn’t matter because the Yankees scored four runs in the first inning to allow Rodon to work freely, then tacked on four more in the fifth to blow it open so he was never in trouble. “The boys scoring runs like that makes it a lot easier to go out there and fill up the zone and get outs,” Rodon said.

➤ All those runs came in handy when Boone decided to throw out his favorite pinata, Santana, to pitch the seventh and eighth and just like he’s been most of the year, he was terrible. The Twins lit him up for three runs so he now has a sporty 5.68 ERA. Why this guy is still on the team while Ron Marinaccio is kicking ass down in Scranton, is beyond me.

➤ Michael Tonkin, meanwhile, pitched an easy ninth and for all the mocking I do of the guy who looks like a high school chemistry teacher, his ERA is 2.88 so how about we leave the mop up duty to him and get rid of Santana. Sound like a plan?

➤ The offense jumped on Minnesota starter Chris Paddack for four quick runs. Volpe got it started with a single, took third on a Soto single and scored on a Judge grounder. With two outs, Giancarlo Stanton hit an RBI single, then Anthony Rizzo doubled and Gleyber Torres delivered a two-run double that just went off right-fielder Manuel Margot’s glove on the right-field line. It was very similar to the rather lucky two-run double to the same spot hit by Judge on Tuesday.

➤ Paddack then pitched great for three innings, but in the fifth, Volpe’s single sandwiched between walks to DJ LeMahieu and Soto loaded the bases with no outs. The Twins brought in Diego Castillo to face Judge and he grounded a shot down the line in left. The ball rolled into the corner, then was misplayed by Willi Castro and all three runners scored with Judge ending up on third for a rare triple. He then scored when he hustled home on a short fly ball by Alex Verdugo.

➤ This is just the fifth time the Yankees have won at least 16 of their first 20 series to start a season, the others being 1928, 1932, 1939, 2022.

⚾ No one is shedding any tears for the Astros as they continue to struggle. They dropped a 4-2 decision at home to the Cardinals Wednesday to fall to 28-35 on the season, but the big story in Houston is the Yankee-like spate of injuries they’ve endured. Kyle Tucker, who is having a great year, fouled a ball off his shin Tuesday and sat out Wednesday, as did Alex Bregman who has a sore hand after being hit by a pitch.

And then came the news that two more pitchers - Yankee-killer Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy - will miss the rest of the season because of Tommy John surgery. They had already lost Luis Garcia to TJ surgery, Lance McCullers hasn’t pitched and isn’t expected back until at least July, and reliever Kendall Graveman has missed all season because of shoulder surgery.

⚾ Old friend Isiah Kiner-Falefa and the Blue Jays did the Yankees a favor by walking off the Orioles 3-2. Baltimore has one glaring weakness: Its closer is Craig Kimbrel. In the ninth he gave up a single to Justin Turner who was then replaced by pinch runner Cavan Biggio. Kimbrel promptly threw away a pickoff so Biggio went to second, then moved to third on a fly ball and scored when IKF hit a one-hop shot off the wall in right at Rogers Centre.

“That felt good. It felt good, especially my first year on the team,” Kiner-Falefa said. “To get that moment with the Blue Jays meant a lot to me.” I liked IKF when he was with the Yankees and I wish he could have been a more productive player.

⚾ Another former Yankee didn’t have quite as much fun as IKF. James Paxton of the Dodgers got hammered for seven runs in the second inning at Pittsburgh and while the Dodgers made it interesting, they ultimately lost 10-6 to the Pirates. In that inning Paxton gave up six hits and two walks and thus suffered his first loss after five wins.

That was just the sideshow in this game because Paul Skenes was the starter for the Pirates, and everyone was dying to see how he would fare against the best team he has faced since he made his MLB debut last month. In the first inning, throwing his 100 mph gas, he struck out Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani and PNC Park was electric. Then came the big seven-run inning so Skenes was on easy street.

However, Ohtani got his revenge in the third with a two-run homer to dead center, and Andy Pages homered in the fifth. Later in that inning Skenes struck out Betts and Freddie Freeman, but an error and singles by Ohtani and Will Smith loaded the bases before Skenes eventually retired Teoscar Hernandez to preserve a 7-3 lead. Skenes was done after five having thrown 93 pitches with eight strikeouts.

“I think the one thing we’re learning about him is he’s not afraid to go after people,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Skenes, who threw 18 pitches at least 100 mph. “He went right after a really good lineup. Again, the top three guys all have MVP trophies.”

⚾ Hey, the Mets are showing a pulse. They completed a three-game sweep of the Nationals with a 9-1 blowout. Since that epic day last week when Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the crowd and the Mets fell 11 games below .500 after getting swept by the Dodgers, they’ve now won five of their last seven thanks to an offense that has woken up with 45 runs in that stretch.

On Wednesday, Luis Severino continued his reversal of fortune after his nightmare 2023 season with the Yankees as he pitched eight innings allowing just one run. And a six-run sixth inning started when Luis Torrens, who the Yankees just traded to the Mets last week, led off with a solo homer and was followed by a homer from Francisco Lindor. Another ex-Yankee, Harrison Bader, later added a two-run single.

⚾ The White Sox are some kind of horrible. They lost their 13th straight game which matches the longest single-season skid in franchise history, tying the 1924 White Sox who lost 13 in a row in August. And for the second night in a row, they blew a big lead at Wrigley Field against the crosstown rival Cubs. This time they were up 5-1 after four, only to see the Cubs score two in the fifth and three in the seventh to take a 6-5 lead.

The White Sox tied it in the eighth on a Paul DeJong homer, but in the ninth, yet another ex-Yankee, Mike Tauchman, hit a walk-off homer against closer Michael Kopech for a second straight 7-6 victory. During their losing streak the White Sox have been outscored 83-43. They have now lost 17 of 18, their overall record is 15-47, and they’ve been outscored 324-184.