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The Yankees will face the Indians in the ALDS after they beat the Twins in the AL wild-card game Tuesday. It was a game that featured much back-and-forth drama in the early innings, but New York eventually gained control and cruised to the win. Scroll to the bottom to read about it from the beginning.
MORE: Three takeaways from Yankees' win | RIVERA: A new empire rises
Final: Yankees 8, Twins 4
Top of the ninth
Aroldis Chapman is on to close it out for the Yankees. He fans Robbie Grossman and Dozier to start the inning, then surrenders a two-strike single to Mauer (I wonder how the "I'm not even ALLOWED in Mexico" guy is doing.).
Chapman fans Polanco to end it. Yankees advance to face the Indians.
*****
Bottom of the eighth (Yankees 8, Twins 4)
Matt Belisle, the Twins' closer, comes on for the eighth. Any more runs and they're definitely done. (Between you and me, though, I think they're already done.)
Yankees go 1-2-3, but they're just three outs from advancing to the ALDS. Get hyped, Yankees fans.
*****
Top of the eighth (Yankees 8, Twins 4)
Oddity: Granite misses first base completely on a bang-bang play after an infield roller. Kahnle drops the throw at first, so Granite is safe if he touches the base. Castro tags him out as he turns toward second in an attempt to get back to first. Just weird all around.
Otherwise, another uneventful inning for the Twins' offense.
*****
Bottom of the seventh (Yankees 8, Twins 4)
Aaron Judge hits a screaming, home-run-distance foul ball. He's crazy strong, but he's not a big weight-lifter. He does yoga, Pilates and other stuff to help stay limber. But he draws a walk here. (Hey, we've reached the point where a walk counts as action.)
OK, here we go: Sanchez follows that with a line-drive single to left. Judge goes to third. Gregorious is intentionally walked to load the bases. Yankees looking to add on and put the game away.
Castro pops out to right, too shallow to score Judge from third. A big out for the Twins. Manager Paul Molitor goes to lefty Taylor Rogers to face Greg Bird.
Bird strikes out swinging. That's a big out. Molitor now brings in a righty to face Aaron Hicks. It's Alan Busenitz (pronounced Booze-nitz ).
Mr. Busenitz walks Hicks to force in a run. 8-4 Yankees, bases still loaded for Ellsbury. Twins fans are definitely thinking about Booze nitz. Thankfully for them, Ellsbury flies out to left.
*****
Top of the seventh (Yankees 7, Twins 4)
Nothin' doin' for the Twins in the seventh. They're running out of outs. Try to stay excited, Twins fans.
*****
Bottom of the sixth (Yankees 7, Twins 4)
Trevor Hildenberger comes on to pitch for Minnesota. He gets the Yankees 1-2-3. Is this game gonna finish at 7-4? I'm not sure I believe that.
*****
Top of the sixth (Yankees 7, Twins 4)
Twins get a single from Granite and a two-out walk to Dozier, and that'll be all for Robertson, who exits after an outstanding job in relief. Meanwhile, Sanchez is recovering behind the plate after a foul ball off the, um, cup area. It wasn't pleasant to watch.
Robertson gets it.
Robertson's reaction in full pic.twitter.com/NVGynnetch
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) October 4, 2017
Tommy Kahnle comes on to pitch for the Yankees and gives up a deep, opposite-field fly ball out to Mauer to end the threat. It looked for a moment like we were gonna have another tie game. That was scary for Yankees fans.
*****
Bottom of the fifth (Yankees 7, Twins 4)
Wow. A 1-2-3 inning for the Yankees. That's two straight uneventful half innings.
*****
Top of the fifth (Yankees 7, Twins 4)
David Roberton surrenders a single to Escobar, but nothing else. A pretty uneventful inning for the Twins.
Meanwhile, the Twins announce Buxton left the game with upper back tightness .
*****
Bottom of the fourth (Yankees 7, Twins 4)
Byron Buxton is out of the game, perhaps resulting from slamming into the wall to rob Frazier on that spectaular catch in the second. Zack Granite (cool baseball name) takes over in center for the Twins.
ALL RISE! Judge cranks a two-run homer to left. Exit velocity: 612 mph. (That might not be official.) Yankees lead 7-4.
The Twins thought they could get him out, but Judge was all ...
(I'm sorry.)
Remember when I said Judge wouldn't reach 50 homers this season? Good times.
But seriously, it seems like the Yankees are putting the game away and OH MY GOSH IT'S ONLY THE FOURTH INNING!
*****
Top of the fourth (Yankees 5, Twins 4)
Dozier gets a one-out hit on a swinging bunt down the third-base line. By this game's standards, that's about a 1.6 out of 10 on the excitement scale.
Joe Mauer steps in and hits into a 6-4-3 double play. Inning over.
Not much happened that inning. How freakish.
*****
Bottom of the third (Yankees 5, Twins 4)
Jose Berrios now pitching for the Twins. He promptly gives up a double to Gary Sanchez. I'm not sure if you guys have heard this, but offense was up in baseball this year. Something about the ball.
But Gregorious strikes out to ruin the narrative.
Starlin Castro goes finishing and strikes out swinging for the second out.
Bird is the word! Greg Bird scores Sanchez with a two-out single to right. 5-4 Yankees.
Hicks follows with an infield hit. Twins in another mini-jam.
Jacoby Ellsbury pops out to third in foul territory, stranding the runners. This game is OK, I guess.
*****
Top of the third (Twins 4, Yankees 4)
Jorge Polanco leads off with a line-drive single off Green. The offense is the clear story of this game so far.
Nice to see my Wednesday night beer league softball league getting a chance to play at Yankee Stadium tonight 👍
— Eric James Byrnes (@byrnes22) October 4, 2017
Rosario walks. First and second, nobody out. David Robertson is up in the Yankees' bullpen.
Eduardo Escobar pops out to center and fails to move 'em.
Max Kepler walks to load the bases. That's all for Green, who gets a nice ovation from the crowd. Here comes Robertson. Yankees in trouble again, which has previously excited fans feeling new sensations.
Byron Buxton is up, a suboptimal situation for New York. Buxton grounds to short, but his speed prevents the Yankees from turning the double play. A run scores. Runners now at first and third. Tie game, 4-4.
Buxton steals second without a throw. Twins have a golden opportunity here. Alas, Castro strikes out swining to end the inning.
*****
Bottom of the second (Yankees 4, Twins 3)
The Twins will stay with Santana.
Todd Frazier is robbed of extra bases on a spectacular play by Byron Buxton at the wall. Wow.
The @Twins ' Byron Buxton made an absolutely ridiculous catch. #WildCard pic.twitter.com/9S84fdq0di
— The Shadow League (@ShadowLeagueTSL) October 4, 2017
And now Gardner follows some chin music with a mega-homer to right. With a minor bat flip. 4-3 Yankees.
*****
Top of the second (Twins 3, Yankees 3)
Chad Green's still on for the Yankees. He fans Robbie Grossman to lead off the inning. He's struck out the past three batters. Make that the past four; Dozier goes down looking. Joe Mauer rudely interrupts the strikeout streak with a fly ball to center field to end the inning.
*****
Bottom of the first (Twins 3, Yankees 3)
Ervin Santana on the bump for the Twins. Smell baseball (remember that?).
Brett Gardner walks. Crowd enthusiasm is growing again as Aaron Judge comes to bat. Fun fact: Aaron Judge is 11 feet tall.
Judge bloops a single into center, moving Gardner to third. Gary Sanchez up next. This is going to be one of those games, isn't it.
Sanchez pops up to the catcher. That's not what you want, Yankees fans.
Here's Didi Gregorius. Aaaaand he homers to tie the game 3-3. It IS going to be one of those games.
Greg Bird walks. Twins' pitching coach to the mound. Action heating up in the Twins' bullpen. One wonders how long the they'll stick with Santana after Severino's early exit.
Aaron Hicks grounds out to end the rally. Santana escapes further damage. But, man, that was one eventful first inning.
*****
Top of the first (Twins 3, Yankees 0)
Yankee Stadium is pumped.
Oh, hey, Brian Dozier leads off with a homer for the Twins. 1-0.
Crowd enthusiasm dips slightly.
Now Eddie Rosario hits a line-drive, two-run blast to right. 3-0 Twins. Uh, oh. (That's only a home run in Yankee Stadium, by the way. But that's what you get when your right-field wall is just 16 feet from home plate.)
Yankees bullpen is already up. Luis Severino likely on a short leash. Crowd enthusiasm dips significantly.
Yankees fans are heading for the exits. Or the bathrooms. Can't really tell.
— Joe Rivera (@JoeRiveraSN) October 4, 2017
Twins are teeing off, man. Runners on second and third with one out. Severino out. Hang in there, Yankees fans. Your team still has nine chances to bat.
Chad Green is on to pitch face Byron Buxton, who strikes out. The crowd roars as if all is well now. All is not well.
Green fans Jason Castro to end the mess. Up come the Yankees. Deep breath, New York.
*****
If you're interested in my prediction, I'm sensing an upset. October is always full of surprises. This sentence originally made a weird reference to Jose Altuve being the hero of the game, which is weird because Altuve doesn't play for either team. My fingers didn't type what my brain was thinking. I was thinking Byron Buxton. Perhaps too many Take 5 bars.
*****
Good evening, baseball fans. It's time for some postseason hardball.
I'll be your host tonight for the AL wild-card game between the Twins and Yankees, giving you updates (and probably some hilarious-ish gifs) from the first pitch through the final out. The winner takes on the Indians in the ALDS. This is gonna be fun. The night will be fueled by baseball fever (but also Chick-fil-A sweet tea and mini Take 5 bars)!
Wild-card teams have had plenty of success in the postseason, in case you're wondering. For your information:
The Yankees are heavily favored tonight, but don't underestimate the Twins. Because, seriously, twins have been known to stoke fear.
We'll find out soon whether the Yankees are afraid.
