NEW YORK — The Yankees draw first blood.
It's the spooky season, and in the battle of monster mashers, the Bronx Bombers took Game 1 in a 10-4 slugfest.
Maybe not a slugfest by runs, but definitely in contact: The Twins blasted three homers in the contest, but it didn't give them the upper hand on the scoreboard, at least for one game. In a five-game set, Minnesota will need to take Game 2 in the Bronx on Saturday to avoid heading back to Minnesota with a steep hill to climb.
MORE: Three takeaways from Astros' Game 1 ALDS win against Rays
Here are some quick takeaways from New York's Game 1 W:
James Paxton was exactly what he had to be
Big Maple was a big mood on Friday.
The enigmatic lefty has been up and down in 2019, but has been on a roll over the last month of the season. In his first career postseason start, Paxton was just good enough to give the Yankees what they needed: He pitched 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball, striking out eight in the process. In fact, it didn't take long for Paxton to notch his first K of the game, striking out lead-off hitter Mitch Garver after being behind 2-0 in the count.
Visibly pumped after the first out, Paxton would allow just two runs on two solo shots, keeping the Yankees in the game and putting aside his first-inning woes for at least one more start.
Paxton struck out the side in in the first, and did it almost exclusively on breaking balls. Of the 22 pitches thrown in the first, 13 were offspeed, as he defaulted to his four-seamer just nine times.
Overall, Paxton battled and gave the Yankees exactly what they needed in Game 1. This is the guy they traded for, and that's a really good sign for the Yankees moving forward in the series, and perhaps deeper into the fall.
Defending home turf
The Twins were known for their power this season, but winning on the road has been another trademark of their squad.
Why have the Twins been so good on the road this season?
"I have no clue," Twins DH Nelson Cruz said before Game 1. "Maybe we like to hit first or we like to stay in hotels. No clue. There's some stuff in baseball you cannot explain."
The Twins were 55-26 on the road in 2019 — seven games better than the next best team, the Rays, who sat at 48-33. Postseason or not, it's pretty critical that the Yankees defend home turf against a team that was so good on the road this year. On Friday, they did just that.
That being written, the Twins need to take Game 2 on Saturday to avoid going home down 2-0 in the series, with the Yankees really wanting to defend the Bronx and avoid heading to Minnesota with a 1-1 series tie. While the Yankees took two of three from Minnesota at Target Field in July, the series was a high-scoring affair, with both squads combining for 57 runs in the three-game set.
The Twins are going to be able to bang with the best of them, including the Yankees, and they'll definitely want to grab at least one game in the Bronx for the opportunity to close it out at home next week.
Lessons learned?
A lot of the criticism of Aaron Boone in 2018 came from his seemingly reactionary use of the bullpen during the season. It's a problem he seemingly corrected in 2019, but there were opportunities for the second-year skipper to be second guessed in Game 1 of the ALDS.
Boone left Paxton in one batter too many on Friday, allowing Jorge Polanco to plate the tying run in the fourth. With Adam Ottavino warming before the start of the fifth, he was ready to come in to face Polanco, who was 1 for 2 with a homer vs. Paxton in the game. Third time through the order, Paxton lost that last AB.
"I felt good about him going through Polanco, and Polanco had a great night, but we'll keep him on that side preferably," Boone said following the game. "He had a great night and a great at-bat against (Paxton), but I felt like Pax was pretty strong to that point, and had Otto, obviously, ready for Cruz. But I felt good about the matchup there."
Ottavino entered and faced Cruz, who Ottavino walked before getting yanked for Tommy Kahnle. Kahnle entered and got out of the inning with just one pitch.
Something of a curious strategy to use two of your best relievers for a few batters and two outs, but Boone's proactiveness is at least an improvement from where he was a season ago, and that should be encouraging to Yankees fans.
Bombs away!
In a matchup of MLB's first 300 home run teams, it didn't take long for the longball to make an appearance in this series.
In the first, Paxton gave up a dinger to Polanco. Cruz joined the salvo by launching a bomb in the third. It wouldn't end there for the Twins, as Miguel Sano blasted off for his first career postseason homer in the sixth.
In the bottom of the same frame, the Yankees' DJ LeMahieu matched Sano's feat, launching his first career postseason homer into the visiting bullpen — and giving the Bombers some breathing room in the process.
A few batters later, Brett Gardner joined the party, mashing his second career postseason long ball deep into the second deck in right. That's No. 3 hitter Brett Gardner, by the way: In his career, Gardner has only started 21 games as the Yankees' 3-hole hitter, hitting .207 with no home runs.
"I would expect (home runs) to be a a decent part of (the series)," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said following the game. "When you step out on the field and watch our team, the Yankees, there's a lot of big strong guys out there. I would expect at least a few balls to be hit over the fence at some point.
"We had some good swings, we had our moments. Just by chance, there was no one on nbase when we popped a few balls over the fence. But, again, that's probably going to be at least part of the story line on a regular basis this series."
In all, there were five homers and six doubles in the game, a fitting start to a heavyweight bout. Power will be on display the rest of the series, so get your popcorn ready.
