Tradition continues as Yankees sweep Twins in Minnesota

Twins have now lost four of their last five games

May 16, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt (36) / Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins' decades-long struggles against the Yankees continue into 2024 after the Yankees completed the three-game sweep of Minnesota Thursday.

Anthony Volpe's leadoff home run established early control for New York. Gleybar Torres added the Yankees' second run of the first inning four batters later with a double to center that scored Aaron Judge. One pitch later Anthony Rizzo grounded out to first, bringing in Alex Verdugo as the Yankees put up three runs in the opening inning.

Anthony Volpe extends his hitting streak to 9 games with a leadoff homer! pic.twitter.com/dSsbHEp4lT

— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2024

Twins hitters were shut down by Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt. Minnesota failed to reach scoring position until Carlos Correa's double in the bottom of the sixth inning, which ended up being their only time reaching scoring position.

By that point the Yankees had made it 4-0 off of Austin Wells' RBI single in the top of the sixth inning. Verdugo then made it 5-0 with an RBI sac fly that drove in Juan Soto in the top of the seventh.

Schmidt allowed just three hits and struck out eight batters in eight innings of shutdown ball. The Twins offense was shut down in the three games against the Yankees, going scoreless in their last 26 innings against New York and totaling just one run all series.

Minnesota has now lost four of their last five. The Twins are back in action Friday in Cleveland, with the first pitch set for 6:10 p.m. CT.