Twins Video
Box Score
SP: Travis Adams 2.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (70 pitches, 36 strikes (51%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Adams (-.356), Luke Keaschall (-.101), Kody Clemens (-.061)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
Travis Adams took the mound at Yankee Stadium for his second career start, and he hoped to keep the homer-happy home lineup under control so that the Twins could even up the series. Big lefty Carlos Rodón opposed Adams, and the Twins hoped that Tuesday wouldn't be yet another failure against left-handed pitching in 2025. With the Wild Card window closing more completely by the day, a win on Empire sod was in order. Could such an unlikely outcome actually transpire?
Opening Hope
Austin Martin led off the game with a bloop to right, and he stole second base to immediately put a runner in scoring position for the visiting Twins. That would be the only hit the Twins got all night. Byron Buxton took a walk, and Ryan Jeffers took a pitch off his kneecap, and suddenly, the Twins had their worst possible run-scoring scenario: bases loaded and nobody out. Minnesota's newest Cooperstown enshrinee, Luke Keaschall, stood at the plate with a chance to immediately get his statue at Target Field with one swing of the bat. Rodón took the rookie to the cleaners, however, with a high fastball for strike three. Royce Lewis looked to have hit into a heart-wrenching double play, but he beat out the relay throw and Martin scampered home to set the Twins up with an early 1-0 advantage.
That was all the Twins could muster, however, and Twins fans knew that it was an opportunity missed.
Yankees Go Yard
Adams successfully got Trent Grisham to fly out to start his efforts for the evening, but Aaron Judge quickly introduced himself as a bad, bad man. Judge took a middle-middle (for a giant) fastball deep to center field to tie things up. In the bottom of the second inning, Adams literally lost control of his outing. He walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. to start the inning, and then walked Ryan McMahon with one out. This put the much-maligned Anthony Volpe at the plate, and by the time his 3-run homer landed in the right-center seats, Yankees fans celebrated the return of their young phenom and a new 4-1 lead.
Adams' control continued to unravel in the bottom of the third inning. After Cody Bellinger reached on an Edouard Julien fielding mishap at first, Adams walked Ben Rice and Chisholm again to end his night before he could finish three innings for the second straight outing. New Twins twirler Thomas Hatch entered to take on the bases loaded, one-out scenario. Hatch struck out Paul Goldschmidt and induced a ground out from McMahon to (surprisingly) escape the threat.
The Twins Can't Hit Left-Handed Pitching
After Rodón escaped the first inning with minimal damage done after 31 pitches, however, he took out the Twins in order in the second, third, fourth, and fifth, with only 39 more pitches required. By comparison, Adams hurled 70 pitches to get just seven outs. Weak contact ruled the evening against the crafty Rodón, who mixed pitches between 80 and 94 mph in the way that has consistently quieted Twins bats this season. (Granted, he was facing the likes of Mickey Gasper, Julien, and Ryan Fitzgerald, instead of Goldschmidt, McMahon, and Volpe at the bottom of the lineup.) The Twins entered the sixth inning without a hit since Martin's bloop to start the game.
Hatch stayed out to start the bottom of the fifth, and Giancarlo Stanton was sure glad that he did. Stanton blasted a hanging slider 113.9 mph for yet another Yankees home run to make it 5-1. Hatch surrendered another hit and a walk in the inning, and with two outs and runners on the corners, Rocco Baldelli elected to keep him pitching past his 50th pitch with the newly dangerous Volpe at the plate. Volpe walked on what looked to be strike two, and now the bases were loaded for Grisham. With crickets chirping in the bullpen, Hatch buckled down and got Grisham to weakly ground out to the mound to end this threat on Hatch's 59th pitch.
More of the Same
Rodón continued to obliterate Twins batters, surrendering only a walk to Jeffers on his way to completing seven innings of one-hit baseball. Meanwhile, the use of the pitching staff in Tuesday's game made it clear that winning wasn't really the concern, as Hatch was allowed to overcook and to walk most of the lineup while the bullpen stayed quiet. Hatch continued to throw pitch after pitch, regardless of results, escaping a threat in the sixth but walking in another run on his 99th pitch with a bases-loaded pass to Bellinger with two outs in the seventh. This was the 7th walk by Hatch tonight in 4 1/3 innings of work. With the bases still loaded, Kody Funderburk finally came on in relief to try to entice Stanton into a rare out in a seemingly unwinnable situation. It didn't work. Stanton ripped a full-count "single" off the wall in right to score two more Yankees runs and make the blowout official: 8-1.
The Twins offense, meanwhile, got a look at a new pitcher in Tim Hill. Unfortunately, Hill is also a lefty, so the Twins didn't do anything against him. Three up, three down. With the game out of reach, Byron Buxton took a seat on the bench and Martin took his place in center field. With Cole Sands now on the mound in the bottom of the eighth, Chisholm ripped a rocket out to deep center field that Buxton probably would have hauled in, but Martin's lunging dive came up short and Chisholm ended up with a triple instead of an out. A groundout scored him to push the ninth Yankee run across. The Yankees finally brought in a right-handed pitcher in Yerry De los Santos in the ninth, but the Twins fared no better. Alan Roden, newly returned papa Matt Wallner, and Keaschall went down in order to complete the one-hitter by the Yankees staff.
What’s Next?
The Twins look to salvage the final game of this short road trip and to avoid going winless against the Yankees this season. They'll place their hopes in All-Star Joe Ryan (11-5, 2.79 ERA). The Yankees will send out rookie RHP Cam Schlittler (1-2, 4.38 ERA) for his sixth career start. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM CDT.
Postgame Interviews
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
| FRI | SAT | SUN | MON | TUE | TOT | |
| Hatch | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 99 | 99 |
| Tonkin | 0 | 18 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 56 |
| Kriske | 17 | 0 | 17 | 19 | 0 | 53 |
| Ramírez | 0 | 21 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 44 |
| Adams | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| Ohl | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Topa | 0 | 15 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| Sands | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 16 | 34 |
| Funderburk | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 22 |
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