Twins playoff winless streak reaches 5,477 days
The Twins' curse against the Yankees continued with a 10-4 loss in Game 1 of the ALDS.
Minnesota's loss gives the Twins 14 consecutive playoff losses. which is now an MLB record. The last time the Twins won a playoff game was on Oct. 4, 2004 – coincidentally against the Yankees.
Despite scoring the game's first run, the Twins' pitching continued to let the Yankees back in time and time again.
Jorge Polanco roped with a solo blast in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. But after Nelson Cruz walked, Miguel Sano struck out to end the inning.
Things got dicey in the bottom half after Aaron Judge worked a walk and Edwin Encarnacion ripped a double, but Sano made an impressive play to throw out Giancarlo Stanton's slow grounder down the line to end the threat.
The Bomba Squad continued to try and distance itself as Cruz hit a home run to put the Twins up 2-0 in the third.
Unfortunately, Luis Arraez had a rough time in hist first game since rolling his ankle to end the regular season. Arraez couldn't track down a pop fly to lead off the third inning that was the first of a couple of gaffes in the inning.
Encarnocion smoked another double down the line to make a 2-1 lead, and the Yankees scored two more to go up 3-2 after C.J. Cron couldn't handle a low throw on a potential inning-ending double play on a ground ball by Gleybor Torres.
Jose Berrios would face the minimum in the fourth but was pulled before the fifth. All in all, Berrios threw 88 pitches through four innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits, three walks with six strikeouts.
Arraez made up for his blunder with a one-out double in the top of the fifth and Polanco was able to drive him in to tie the game with a two-out RBI Single. Yankees starting pitcher James Paxton was then pulled, lasting 4.2 innings, allowing three earned runs, six base runners and striking out eight.
Zack Littell relieved Berrios out of the 'pen to begin the fifth and allowed a leadoff walk to Judge, then hit Brett Gardner with a pitch to put the Twins in a massive jam with nobody out.
Rocco Baldelli had seen enough and pulled Littell for Tyler Duffey. Duffey struck out Encarnacion but walked Stanton to load the bases, and Torres connected on a two-run double to give New York a 5-3 lead.
Sano was able to cut the deficit to one run with a solo homer into the first or second row in right field in the sixth, but that's all the Twins would get.
Cody Stashek relieved Duffey in the sixth but gave up home runs to D.J> LeMahieu and Gardner, with Gardner's dinger driving in a pair of runs to put the Yankees up 7-4 heading to the seventh inning.
Kyle Gibson was then asked to pitch the seventh, and the veteran righty's struggles continued as he served up three more runs. Just 19 of Gibson's 34 pitches were strikes.
With the loss the Yankees take a 1-0 lead in the best of five series. Game 2 will be played on Saturday at 4 p.m. Central Time, or precisely 5,477 days since the Twins' last playoff victory.
