Gio Urshela trotted home for the Yankees' ninth run of Wednesday's 9-6 victory over the Twins, giving his team a commanding seven-run lead at the time. With 17 runs through the first two games of their series at Target Field, this is exactly the type of offensive production that he and his teammates expected all season.

"Those are the little things that we've been working on," Urshela said before Thursday's series finale. "The last two days, we're showing a lot more offensively. We're hitting better. That's the thing that is going to take us to the playoffs."

With six home runs through the first two games of the Twins series, the Bombers finally showed signs of living up to their moniker. Urshela was especially encouraged to see Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton go deep in the same game on Wednesday, with Stanton homering twice off Minnesota starter Randy Dobnak.

Including the postseason, the Yanks are 10-0 in games when both Judge and Stanton clear the fences.

"It’s really fun, especially if I’m on deck and you have Giancarlo hitting those long homers,” Urshela said. “It’s very exciting for the team, for all the people here. That’s the good show that we want to have all year.”

Urshela had hits in each of his first nine games this month, batting .368 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and three RBIs in that stretch.

“I’m feeling good,” Urshela said. “I feel like I've been hitting the ball really well. I’m just trying to keep it that way; trying to keep working every day and try to help my team. That's the most important thing for me.”

Sticky situation
The use of sticky substances has been a hot talking point this week, highlighted by the chatter that preceded Wednesday’s showdown between Yankees starter Gerrit Cole and Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson. Count right-hander Jameson Taillon among those who would be in favor of an even playing field for all pitchers.

“If umpires are going to go out there and inspect the pitchers and the game's going clean, I'm really excited for it,” Taillon said. “When I look inside our locker room, I think it's going to actually help us going forward. I know that seems crazy to say, but we have so much talent in our room that I think eliminating the sticky stuff can actually help us as a group.”

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge estimated this week that 95 percent of opposing pitchers use a substance to aid their grip on the ball, which could also benefit their spin rates. Taillon said that he couldn’t pin a number on the practice, but he believes it is prevalent throughout the game.

“I have plenty of time sitting on the bench to watch pitchers,” Taillon said. “It's pretty noticeable which ones are using it and which ones aren't afraid of getting checked. There's some guys that are really sneaky about it. If you sit back and watch games, there's definitely a lot of guys that you can tell have no fear of going to their gloves.”

Bombers bits
• Yankees pitchers have been hitting in the cages in anticipation of this weekend’s Interleague series against the Phillies in Philadelphia. Taillon said that Domingo Germán, who is scheduled to start on Sunday, has seemed surprisingly comfortable in the batter’s box.

• Stanton is not expected to play the outfield during that series in Philadelphia, according to manager Aaron Boone, as Stanton’s defensive work has been “put on the back-burner” following his recent injuries. Boone suggested that the Yankees could revisit the idea of playing Stanton in the outfield later this summer.

• Left-hander Zack Britton is scheduled to pitch again for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. The Yankees will evaluate Britton’s progress after the game, determining if he needs one or two more appearances in the Minors before being activated.

• First baseman Luke Voit could begin a Minor League rehab assignment as early as Sunday, according to Boone. Voit would likely need about a week to be ready to rejoin the big league roster.

This date in Yankees history
June 10, 2002: Marcus Thames homered off the D-backs’ Randy Johnson on the first pitch he saw as a Major Leaguer, slugging a drive to left-center field in the third inning of the Yankees’ 7-5 victory at Yankee Stadium.