The Yankees’ offensive struggles continued as they were defeated by the Minnesota Twins 6-2 on Tuesday night, pushing their losing streak to three.
Here are some takeaways…
– Nestor Cortes took the ball for the Yankees and he put together a bit of an up-and-down outing. The lefty retired the Twins in order in the bottom of the first before working his way out of trouble in the second. After Byron Buxton led off the inning with a double, Cortes used a pair of strikeouts to help him get out of the second unscathed.
He ran into danger again in the third, and this time was not able to eliminate the threat. Anthony Volpe committed an error for the third straight game, allowing the leadoff man to reach. A few batters later, doubles from Michael A. Taylor and Jorge Polanco gave the Twins the lead.
Cortes settled back in and bounced back to throw a pair of perfect innings in both the fourth and the fifth. However, Minnesota struck again in the sixth, as Buxton crushed a two-run homer effectively ending the southpaw’s night.
Cortes threw a season-high 98 pitches but lasted just five innings. He allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on five hits and a walk, while striking out six.
– Ron Marinaccio entered in relief of Cortes and did not fare much better. He struggled for the first time this season, allowing a two-run homer, stretching the Minnesota lead to 6-2. Lefty Nick Ramirez tossed a pair of scoreless innings in his Yankees debut.
– The struggling Yankees offense was able to jump on Joe Ryan early in this one. A pair of two-out hits from Aaron Judge and DJ Lemahieu gave them a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
– They added another run on a Donovan Solano error in the fifth but were held in check by Ryan and the Twins bullpen the rest of the way. The talented right-hander limited the Bombers to seven singles across seven innings of work.
– Willie Calhoun led off the top of the ninth with his second hit of the night, a single to left, but he was stranded there.
– New York went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and all eight of their hits were singles. They’ve scored just four runs over their past three games.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees will look to salvage this three-game set with the Twins on Wednesday afternoon at 1:10 pm
Domingo German (1-2, 4.50 ERA) will take the mound against Minnesota right-hander Kenta Maeda (0-3, 4.15 ERA).