Yankees 4, Twins 3: Gary’s walk-off homer gives Yankees sixth consecutive win

For eight innings, Thursday afternoon’s series finale against the Twins felt like one of those nondescript losses that would soon meld into the giant glob of baseball we all forget each season. Then, in the ninth, the Fighting Spirit kicked in and turned this game into the most exciting win of the young season. The Yankees walked off with a 4-3 win Thursday for their sixth straight win, and their tenth win in the last 13 games. Do we love this team yet?

Shoot Dem Arrows
Let’s start in the ninth inning, shall we? The first eight innings kinda sucked. The Yankees were down 3-1 at the start of the ninth and the Twins went to closer Fernando Rodney, who is somehow still slinging 97 mph fastballs at age 41. The ninth inning started with what should’ve been a routine 5-3 ground out. Didi Gregorius hit a chopper to third, Miguel Sano tripped over his own feet, and the throw short-hopped Logan Morrison at first base. The Yankees were in business.

The next batter, Giancarlo Stanton, also hit a weak tapper. That one was kinda in no man’s land on the infield between short and third. It left Stanton’s bat at 83.6 mph, which was weak enough for him to beat out the infield single without a throw. Really, Rodney could’ve easily had two quick outs with those grounders. Instead, the Yankees had runners on first and second with no outs. Gary Sanchez, do the damn thing:

Not an awful pitch! It was a running two-seamer inside at 96.5 mph. Wasn’t even in the strike zone. Gary’s hands are just so quick that he was able to pull it to left and keep it fair. Impressive. It clearly had the distance. The only question was fair or foul, and fair it was. Three-run walk-off bomb. The first walk-off of Sanchez’s career, homer or otherwise. The Twins started the ninth inning with a 90.2% chance to win the game. Eight pitches later, it was 0.0%.

Montgomery Labors
A laborious afternoon for Jordan Montgomery, it was. His pitch count by inning: 20, 19, 37, 9, 13. Seventy-six pitches after three innings is no good. The Twins got their two runs against Montgomery in that 37-pitch third inning, and it happened with two outs. Montgomery walked Sano with two outs and couldn’t put Eduardo Escobar away after getting ahead in the count 1-2. Three foul balls and two balls later, Escobar poked a two-run homer into the short porch for a 2-0 lead. Blah.

Montgomery’s final line: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K on 98 pitches. This game was classic Montgomery, in a sense. I’m not trying to knock him. When Montgomery struggles, he tends to run long at-bats and has to battle, but it’s not often things really get away from him. The Twins had some chances to break this game open and didn’t do it. Even on his bad days, Montgomery finds a way to fight through it and keep the Yankees in the game. And with their offense, that’s all you need to do.

The unsung heroes: Domingo German and Dellin Betances. German replaced Montgomery and allowed one run, a Robbie Grossman solo homer, in three innings. He stranded two runners in both the seventh and eighth innings. Guessing the Twins regret not cashing those runners in. Betances struck out the side on 13 pitches in the ninth. Total dominance. Dellin’s either great or awful these days. Dr. Dellin or Mr. Betances. Dr. Dellin showed up Thursday.

Bob Kyle Gibson
Geez, Kyle Gibson was really sharp Thursday afternoon. His slider especially. The Yankees didn’t get their first baserunner until Brett Gardner drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, and they didn’t get their first hit until Gardner’s two-out single in the sixth. Gibson’s final line: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K. That’s a career-high ten strikeouts. The breakdown of his slider:

• Thrown: 29
• Swings: 14
• Whiffs: 11
• Called Strikes: 3

Gibson had an unreal slider back in college — I thought he was going to be a top five pitcher in baseball during his prospect days — but he’s never been able to get that same effectiveness with the MLB ball. On Thursday, Gibson really had the slider working, and the Yankees couldn’t do anything with it. Sometimes a dude just wakes up with great stuff and shuts you down. It happens. Gibson was great.

Of course, the Yankees have an unforgiving lineup, so they forced Gibson to throw 95 pitches in those six innings. Even on their bad offensive days, they don’t let the starter get deep in the game. Addison Reed replaced Gibson in the seventh and the Yankees got on the board thanks to Aaron Hicks’ sac fly. Stanton doubled to start the inning, then moved over to third on wild pitch. Is it just me, or does it feel like Reed allows a run every time he pitches against the Yankees? Not complaining!

Leftovers
Two hits for Stanton (double, infield single) and one each for Gardner (single), Sanchez (dinger), and Gleyber Torres (single). Torres reached on an infield single in the eighth and advanced to second on Brian Dozier’s error. The Yankees couldn’t get him in against Zach Duke — Zack Duke! — though. Oh well. Ain’t mad about it anymore.

The Yankees struck out 12 times as a team. Judge (two), Miguel Andujar (two), and Tyler Austin (three) had seven of the 12 strikeouts. Despite their roster, the Yankees went into Thursday’s game with baseball’s tenth lowest strikeout rate at 22.1%. Gibson got them good Thursday though. The bullpen? Not so much.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Head over to ESPN for the box score and updated standings, and MLB for the video highlights. Here’s our Bullpen Workload page and the win probability graph:

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
The homestand is over and the Yankees are on their way to the West Coast for three games against the Angels. Friday night’s series opener is a 10pm ET start. Luis Severino and left-hander Andrew Heaney are the scheduled starting pitchers for that one.