Twins denied in 10th inning of battle with Yanks

MINNEAPOLIS -- Fireworks were to be expected with the Bronx Bombers meeting the Bomba Squad at Target Field. The actual slugfest that ensued on Tuesday night between two of the most powerful lineups in the league surpassed all expectations.

Miguel Sanó’s three-run homer in the fourth inning gave the Twins a six-run lead. The Yankees mounted a seven-run comeback. Sano went deep again in the eighth inning with a go-ahead, two-run shot to seemingly put New York away. Down to their last out, the Yankees got a two-run blast from former Minnesota outfielder Aaron Hicks to wrest the lead back in the ninth, and the Twins answered again in the bottom.

But the Yankees landed the knockout blow against the Twins’ makeshift bullpen. With converted starter Kohl Stewart on the mound in the 10th inning, the Yankees got an RBI single from Gleyber Torres to finally claim a 14-12 win that featured five lead changes, two ejections in the final three innings and a game-ending diving catch by Hicks to stop the Twins from tying it up once again.

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“If that’s not the game of the year so far, I don’t know what it would be,” Twins starter Kyle Gibson said. “Two really, really good teams, two really, really good offenses and two teams that never think they’re out of the game. ... That’s what playoff baseball looks like; two teams not giving up. Hopefully, the fans enjoyed it and hopefully they realize we’re never out of a game.”

Sano’s two big blasts, including his eighth-inning shot off Zack Britton, had helped the Twins maintain the pace, and a wild ninth inning featuring three walks from Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman gave the Twins the opportunity to tie it on Jorge Polanco’s sacrifice fly.

Considering the state of the bullpen and the fight that the offense showed throughout the five-hour, three-minute affair, the Twins’ players found reasons to remain largely positive following the loss.

“It was very positive after the game,” Blake Parker said. “I think there was a lot of positives to come out of the game. I know there was a few negatives, but we battled all the way to the last out. Obviously, Max [Kepler] put a great swing on that ball and [Hicks] made a great play. I think both bullpens struggled but that’s part of the game.”

But with a week to go until the July 31 Trade Deadline and three relievers having been designated for assignment in the last month, the Twins’ bullpen featured three pitchers that were in Triple-A Rochester a week ago, including two career starters and a pitcher that hadn’t made an appearance in the Major Leagues.

Cody Stashak did his part, holding the Yankees at bay in two scoreless innings in his Major League debut, but three of the Twins’ trusted bullpen arms -- Parker, Ryne Harper and Taylor Rogers -- couldn’t hold off the Yankees, who capped a five-run eighth with a go-ahead double from Gregorius and got the two-run, go-ahead homer by Hicks off Rogers, the Twins’ bullpen ace.

With Lewis Thorpe having pitched 2 2/3 innings on Tuesday and Trevor May still recovering from a 49-pitch outing on Sunday, that left only Stewart, a starter at Triple-A for most of the season, to pitch in extra innings after the Twins tied the game at 12 but couldn’t walk it off against Chapman.

“I think that our hitters did a great job of keeping us in the game,” Parker said. “We put ourselves in some tough situations, and they answered the call.”

Frankly, manager Rocco Baldelli didn’t think the Twins should have gotten to that point in the first place.

The normally stoic Baldelli was specifically upset after the game about two calls that didn’t go the Twins’ way in the eighth inning, when Tyler Duffey was pitching to Luke Voit with two outs, and the Twins nursing a 9-8 lead.

Baldelli said he felt that Voit went around on an 0-2 check swing, but he was more upset about home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus’ lack of a called strike three on Duffey’s 3-2 curveball that appeared to clip the strike zone but instead resulted in a walk that extended the inning.

Baldelli was ejected from the game after arguing the call, and one batter later, Gregorius doubled off the wall to give the Yankees the lead.

“Ramon had, in my opinion, a fine day behind the plate,” Baldelli said. “In one of the biggest moments of the game, he called [a ball]. ... There were two times where I thought the inning was over. And I feel pretty confident about what I saw. And the inning ended up going on. And the Yankees ended up scoring because of it.

“That’s what I’m talking about when I say our players earned something, did their part. They did their jobs. So that’s what’s frustrating about the whole thing.”

Baldelli’s rare frustrations aside, the Twins’ players were, to a man, focused on the positives of the contest in the clubhouse after the game. And with the challenging result behind them, they’re just hoping to take the fact that they battled well enough to win another big game -- a playoff-caliber game against a top opponent -- learn from the experience, and move on.

“We played a handful of games that are clearly playoff-type intensity games,” Baldelli said. “They do take a lot out of you, but they also build character at the same time. Every time a game ends like this, there is certainly some emotion. And if you lose, there is some frustration. But we can also take a ton of positives about what we see out there, both today and all these games we’ve played this week, to be honest.”