MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The Minnesota Twins giveth, and the Minnesota Twins taketh away. A four-game series against the worst team in the league gave the New York Yankees a sense of swagger through three games. But the final game of the series exposed the mediocrity of this bunch. Some of the inconsistencies that have plagued the Yankees throughout the season -- pedestrian pitching and bewildered bats -- showed up again Sunday afternoon at Target Field in the 7-4 loss to the Twins.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Alex Rodriguez, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI. “We felt like we had a shot to get a win today, and we let it get away.”
“You get greedy when we win the first three in a four-game series,” manager Joe Girardi said.
New York wasn’t necessarily being greedy -- more like realistic, thinking it should sweep the Twins. Nonetheless, the loss Sunday meant the Yankees finished the “cupcake” road trip of series against the Colorado Rockies and Twins with a 3-3 record.
“It’s not what we want," Girardi said. “We ran into a team that was playing pretty good in Colorado. They were pretty hot when we ran into them. It’s an interesting place to play. After losing the first two, if we can end up 3-3, we feel pretty decent about that.”
What the Yankees can’t feel decent about is that they dipped back under .500 with the loss and now sit 6.5 games back of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.
“It’s been frustrating for us,” Rodriguez said. “We get to that threshold of .500, and we take a step back.”
Nathan Eovaldi, who had posted a 9.82 ERA in the month of June heading into the matchup, was rolling through five innings Sunday. He ran into some trouble in the sixth, thanks to what Girardi chalked up as “bad luck” on the mound. After a bloop single from Brian Dozier, Eovaldi gave up a seeing-eye single to Trevor Plouffe that moved Dozier to third base. Eduardo Escobar then stepped up and hit a broken-bat shot into right field that brought Dozier and Plouffe home to make it 3-2. Kepler stretched the lead with another bloop single that scored Escobar, and Kurt Suzuki finished the outburst with a double to score Kepler.
“That’s the unfortunate part,” Girardi said. “They hit one ball hard in that inning, and that was the ball Suzuki hit.”
Added Eovaldi, “That’s baseball.”
The Twins looked desperate to give the game away after taking starter Ervin Santana out in the eighth inning. Jacoby Ellsbury reached safely on a throwing error from reliever Taylor Rogers. Then first baseman Joe Mauer, usually sure-handed, Bill Buckner’d a slower roller, which allowed Brett Gardner to reach and Ike Davis to score. But the Yankees couldn’t capitalize any further. Rodriguez struck out with runners on first and third to end the threat.
Brian McCann snapped an 0-for-15 slump and put the Yankees ahead 1-0 with a second-inning home run that traveled an estimated 439 feet. With the game out of hand, he hit another home run deep into the plaza in right field in the ninth inning. The second shot went an estimated 435 feet.
“I’ve been swinging at good pitches,” he said. “It’s just when I hit the baseball, I’m not getting through it. I’m cutting my swing off a little bit. Today was a good day.”
Is it a sign of things to come?
“I hope so,” McCann said. “I’ve been grinding for a long time now and haven’t been getting any results, so it was nice to put the barrel on some balls today.”
Still, the 874 feet of power from McCann was the lone silver lining on Sunday. The team will return to the Bronx 34-35.
“We haven’t been able to build on it,” Girardi said of his team’s performance when close to .500 this season. “I think this is the first time that we’ve been this close, and we’re going home. So hopefully we can take advantage of these games at home.”