Yanks rally after Cole's blip: 'We weren't panicked'

MINNEAPOLIS – The feeling was palpable. Even on a night the Minnesota Twins started the game with three straight homers, many in the ballpark and, especially, the New York Yankees knew a comeback was possible.

Joey Gallo knew it and told Gerrit Cole -- who served up the homers to the first three batters in Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa -- that the Yankees’ offense was going to pick up its starting pitcher.

Manager Aaron Boone felt it during a trip to the mound to replace Lucas Luetge, who allowed just one hit in 2 1/3 innings in relief of Cole.

“Don't let us hang around,” Boone said after New York’s comeback in a 10-7 win on Thursday night at Target Field. “That's the dynamic. … There was that feeling out on the mound like, 'Hey, they're going to let us hang around. Keep grinding and we're going to get this one.' It's one of those nights it felt like there was that belief going on. They did a great job finishing it off."

Gallo homered twice and Aaron Hicks hit a game-tying home run as the Yankees came back from a four-run deficit.

DJ LeMahieu added his 100th career homer in the comeback, as the Yankees won for the eighth time in nine games and continued their inexplicable dominance over Minnesota. New York is 111-39, including the postseason, against the Twins since 2002.

“I think all we just kept telling Gerrit was, 'We got you. We got you,’” Gallo said. “We know we're going to come back in this game. That's the kind of offense we have and the kind of team that we have, so we didn't really think much of it. They just did a really good job handling him, because I've faced him plenty of times and it's not easy to hit off that guy. So it was just one of those days, and we had to pick it up for him."

Five relievers combined for 6 2/3 scoreless innings, with Miguel Castro (3-0) earning the win and Clay Holmes finishing his ninth save. Minnesota didn’t have a hit after Jorge Polanco’s single in the fourth inning.

“This game is always bigger than one player, and for us to all pull in the same direction when it seemed like all the odds were against us, just shows a lot of grit,” Cole said. “A lot of teams just cash that away, right? To be able to execute their plan on every single pitch, stay locked in, have that confidence, that’s big for all of us. They can learn something from it, and I certainly need to learn something from tonight’s game.”

After New York scored a run in the top of the first, Arraez, Buxton and Correa all went deep off Cole, who entered the game allowing one run or fewer in five of his previous eight starts. He became the first Yankees pitcher in franchise history to allow the first three batters of a game to hit a home run.

Cole allowed five home runs Thursday after entering the game with six allowed in 64 2/3 innings this season. He entered the night 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA in three career starts against Minnesota.

“That was a struggle,” Cole said. “The stuff was just over the middle of the plate, pitch after pitch, it just seemed like -- you know, credit to them, they got their ‘A’ swing on pitches that they should hit, and obviously they’re super talented and they have really good hitters. But boy, that was tough. Just really poor execution and just not great stuff and never really found a way to try to make it any better.”

In the three-game series, the Twins sent Jameson Taillon, Nestor Cortes and Cole each to season highs in runs allowed.

With the bullpen halting Minnesota’s momentum, New York kept chipping away. Gallo tied the game at 3 in the top of the second with his first homer, then he and LeMahieu went back-to-back in the fifth.

Gleyber Torres’ infield fly in the sixth fell between Correa and Polanco in a bit of miscommunication, and Hicks followed with his first homer since April 12. Anthony Rizzo and Hicks had RBI singles in the seventh to put New York ahead.

“There was really no doubt that we were going to come back,” Gallo said. “Not in a cocky way, but we feel like we have the offense to string runs together very quickly. … We weren't panicked at all."