Twins 4, Yankees 3: Carlos Correa Comes Up Clutch In Yankee Stadium

[Matt Braun]

Sometimes you need an outsider to change your fortunes. 

Image courtesy of © Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Louie Varland: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Home Runs: Carlos Correa (2), Kyle Garlick (1)
Top 3 WPA: Carlos Correa (.433), Jhoan Duran (.190), Jorge López (.136)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The craftiest lefty this side of Jamie Moyer, Nestor Cortes, employs variations of a Tiant-ian theme in order to acquire his outs. At whim he’ll devolve into jazz creativity, halting and re-tracing; dipping and gliding to offer hitters an uncomfortable dance they cannot deny. The hijinks—in concert with a rising fastball and a driving cutter—turned Cortes from comedy to drama, making him an All-Star for the first time in 2022 after a few seasons of anonymity. 

Louie Varland is a little different: a righty with a jumpy fastball and an anxious nature to his delivery—emphasized by a glove tap in anticipation of his drive—he’s already beaten the odds by evolving from hometown story to legitimate major-league performer. These Yankees know it; they just watched him hurl on their own turf last season, turning in an outstanding seven-strikeout start to begin his MLB career. It was a match between the overlooked. 

Just as a typical game enters its quiet phase, with both teams working to figure out their competition, the Yankees bombarded Varland. 

Anthony Volpe caught a chest-high fastball flush, launching the pitch into a grateful third row of Yankees fans in left field. It was the first home run of Volpe’s career, and it was as bad a start a pitcher could have. No rest was to be had for the weary. With lamentations still fresh in the air, Aaron Judge—always the regal slugger—twisted a middle-middle heater into right-center, increasing the New York fans’ ecstasy and extending the lead to two runs over just as many batters. 

Early action begat calmer winds, though, and the game soon turned cold. Minnesota’s batters found no such luck against Cortes, occasionally placing men on base but never mustering the effort needed to bring them home; the Twins did not score until the 6th.

To his credit, Varland never wavered from his fastball, choosing to forget the prior damage on his way to four consecutive scoreless frames following his disastrous opening inning.

The 6th is when the game entered a baseball Twilight Zone, quickly morphing from tepid duel to home-run battle. Carlos Correa’s solo home run—a Yankee Stadium cheapy, no other ballpark would allow such a batted ball to leave—brought the match within one run; but Giancarlo Stanton’s laser beam in the bottom of the frame re-established the two-run advantage. It wasn’t until Kyle Garlick jumped on a Cortes breaker when it became apparent that this game had no intention of acting normally. 

Aaron Boone felt the pressure of the situation. Yankees closer Clay Holmes entered the game in the eighth, an inning prior to his typical home ending the game in the ninth. Michael A. Taylor poked a single to right and Byron Buxton worked a walk; Correa now stood at the plate as the man who could alter the match. A back-door 98 MPH sinker—Holmes’ bread and butter—was precisely what the shortstop anticipated, and he shot a liner down the right field line, beckoning Taylor and Buxton to fly around the bases and score the tying and go-ahead runs. 

Jorge López navigated around a Stanton dribbling single to pass the baton to Jhoan Duran—the final boss. Franchy Cordero roped a single into left; Oswaldo Cabrera chopped a splinker directly to Correa. The double play was inevitable. Willie Calhoun pinch-hit for Jose Trevino, but Duran cared not for managerial efforts and magic; a heat-seeking fastball found the top of Calhoun’s bat, then soon nestled safely into Correa’s glove to end the game.

Holy ****.

Notes:

The Twins have now won multiple games in Yankee Stadium in one season for the first time since 2014.

Louie Varland set a MLB-career-high record with his eight strikeouts; he previously earned seven in his first major-league start against the Yankees on September 7th, 2022.

Carlos Correa earned his second multi-hit game in a row.

Jorge López extends his scoreless streak to 6 ⅔ innings to start the season.

Post-Game Interview:

 

What’s Next?
The Twins will remain in New York for game three of the series Saturday morning; Tyler Mahle will face off against Domingo Germán.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

 

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[Rod Carews Birthday]

Well that was fun!  Nice start from Varland.  Good bullpen work all around.  It was nice to have Taylor and Buxton be the guys on base when Correa got the double.  No doubt those guys were going to fly all the way home!  Twins Win!

[Blyleven2011]

The twins now have a chance to win the series  , would be unbelievable  in Yankee stadium  ...

Varland couldn't locate in the first inning but found his groove and did a wonderful job of keeping it close  so the twins could come from behind and win ...

Pitching wins ...

Pagan got the win oh my ...

[Bigfork Twins Guy]

Rocco managed the game well. I’ve been impressed with his decisions so far this year.

[FlyingFinn]

.433 WPA for Correa. I don't always pay attention to that but it sure seems like a lot for one game.

Garlick is a half tool (not sure that's what you call a guy who is only great at hitting LH pitching) but if you don't make him do anything else, he sure does that well.

[MN_ExPat]

LET'S GO BOYS!!!!!

Big hat tip to Varland.  Dude gathered himself and was money.

Lopez. Was. Nails.

Great job by a team that simply said "Hell no, we are not backing down!" 

There's still work to be done. Now finish the job.

[jkcarew]

Way more impressive than the first win, IMO.

Even the hapless underdog captures lightning in a bottle once in a blue moon. This was grinded out against a good pitcher, good team, on the road, having been punched in the face to start the game.

So early…but it’s the kind of game that can get the PLAYERS believing.

[USAFChief]

Really nice win.

 

Hat tip to Varland, well done young man. Really impressed, particularly with composing himself after getting down 2-0, two batters in. He's got legit stuff, too.

 

Also, not a fan of MAT playing every day, but he had a key hit today and has absolutely contributed to this nice start. 

[mikelink45]

Way to go Varland - they call him up so he can fill in and impress the club and who do they choose to start him against - the Yankees in Yankee stadium.  He deserves to stay up for another start. 

[Schmoeman5]

Varland recovered well. He could have done a Brito impersonation. But he didn't. And a game the Twins would lose more often than not, especially at Yankee Stadium, they battled back to win. Big kudos to all of them. Watching the game, it just had that feeling they would come back. All wins count, but I think that was their best win of the year so far. 

[Dman]

Varland with a great recovery.  I kind of thought the game might get out of hand.  I honestly can't believe the Twins won two in a row at Yankee Stadium.  Hell must frozen over.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Previously stated that this is the strongest lineup of pitching the Twins have had since the '60s.  It is time to correct that:

This is the deepest Twins pitching staff the club has ever had.

Some of the hitters may be overperforming at the moment, but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. Best April we've seen in a long time.

[GKuehl]

One of the most memorable wins in recent Twins history — this one was fun! Our bullpen has so many stud arms. If our starter can keep going 6 innings, we’re going to win a ton of ballgames. 

[Squirrel]

46 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Way to go Varland - they call him up so he can fill in and impress the club and who do they choose to start him against - the Yankees in Yankee stadium.  He deserves to stay up for another start. 

He started against the Yankees last year, too, and did quite well then, too. Maybe the Twins have found their curse breaker!

[stringer bell]

Many a team has tied a game or taken the lead late only to run into the heart of the Yankee order and lose that lead. Jorge Lopez, much less lionized than Pablo so far, put up a crucial zero in the eighth. 

[2wins87]

Two really fun wins in completely different games.

Never want to let up against the Yankees when we get the upper hand, but very happy that we already know they'll get out of New York with at least a split.

Seems like the Yankees were looking to ambush the fastball early. Varland and Jeffers made the adjustment to leading with the cutter for the rest of the game to stay off the barrels. Still got hit hard a few times after the 1st but a nice job adjusting to keep them in the game.

[h2oface]

Too greedy to be thinking sweep? 🧹🧹🧹🧹

 

 

[Steven Trefz]

Best moment from being at the game tonight?  Bottom of 4th, Yankees last out is fly ball to Garlick in right. He turns to toss it to the bleacher bums, and then says “nope” and heads back to the dugout with it 😂

They booed him so hard…not Correa hard, but close.

Then, just a few innings later, he goes yard.  Then Correa wins it…

That place went from ecstatic to rage to pin drop over the course of the night. 
 

And it was glorious.

[Mike Sixel]

All around very good game! Nice job by Varland, he looks legit. And Lopez! And CC....

Very pleased with this season start, especially w/o Polanco.

[AceWrigley]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Way to go Varland - they call him up so he can fill in and impress the club and who do they choose to start him against - the Yankees in Yankee stadium.  He deserves to stay up for another start. 

Again!  Louie "The Ice Man" Varland.

[ashbury]

Watching the A's local broadcast right now, 12-4 after five innings, 2:20 to complete even this much - Twins and Yankees were completed in this amount of time  Excruciating, with walk after walk after walk.  Some styles of play are not cured by the pitch clock alone it turns out.  Mrs Ash wants to take a trip down to northern California in a couple of weeks and I am debating whether I am even geared up for taking in one of their games.

I like the Twins 2023 edition better.  Today's win over the Yankees was outstanding spectator entertainment.

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

Again!  Gus "The Ice Man" Varland.

That would be the Twins' pitcher's brother.

[AceWrigley]

1 minute ago, stringer bell said:

That would be the Twins' pitcher's brother.

I fixed it.  Must have been the elation of winning 2 straight at the Yank.

[darwin22]

12-8-1-0-0-0

For those wondering what those numbers mean----it was Pagan's line tonight:

12 pitches

8 strikes

1 K------Volpe on swinging strike three to end the inning

0 hits allowed

0 BB

0 Runs

As much as criticism as I've voiced (rightfully so) about Pagan's failures----tonight--at least tonight in Yankee Stadium of all places he was very successful and worthy of being a key contributor to a Twins win.  

[Jocko87]

If I'da asked ya last week if you would take a split what would you have said?  Yup, 10 times over.   Now gravy available with good pitchers taking the ball.  Love it.

[glunn]

I don't think it can get any better than this. There will be downs, but this could become the best season ever.

[jimbo92107]

Louie Varland looks like a fearless young MLB pitcher with excellent stuff. With he and Bailey Ober backing up the starting five, this is indeed the deepest group of quality starters I have ever seen beginning a season for the Twins. This team appears to have seven starters that would be #2's or #3's behind an ace. You really don't need a Cy Young contestant if all your guys are solid pitchers. It means that each time through the rotation, one or two guys will throw and ace-like game, six or seven innings giving up either no runs or one run. Varland today came about as close as you can get, considering the firepower of the Yankees hitters. If the next two starters can do as well, the Twins could take this series. 

[Aerodeliria]

Yesterday's game was a nice poke in the eye, but today's game was much more significant to me. One of the biggest games for the Twins in the last 25 years (I'm not being a bit hyperbolic here). How many times have we come back against the Yankees while playing in the Death Star over the past quarter century? Contrarily, how many times have the Twins just given the game back to the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth? Or how many times have the Twins coughed up a three or four run lead over the final innings?

Something to note here: One walk over the last 18 innings issued to the Yankees. Pitchers have to attack the Yankees' hitters.

Great win. Now let's take the series outright!

PS-Thanks to Carlos Correa for his fearless approach while in the Death Star. It looks like it is starting to rub off!!

[Aerodeliria]

4 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Many a team has tied a game or taken the lead late only to run into the heart of the Yankee order and lose that lead. Jorge Lopez, much less lionized than Pablo so far, put up a crucial zero in the eighth. 

...especially many a Twins team...

[Aerodeliria]

5 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Way to go Varland - they call him up so he can fill in and impress the club and who do they choose to start him against - the Yankees in Yankee stadium.  He deserves to stay up for another start. 

I'd like to see the Twins experiment with a six-man rotation, especially considering that Baldelli seems very concerned about arm fatigue.