It was a tough Wednesday night for the Twins and a tough start to their season series with the Bronx Bombers.
Aaron Judge followed a 467-foot home run with three hard-hit doubles, driving in two runs for the New York Yankees in a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night. That's two straight and will end the Twins' streak of series wins at six with the series finale on Thursday afternoon.
“You don’t even feel it, when you get it on the barrel like that,” said a smiling Judge, who is 16 for 36 with eight walks over his last 10 games.
The Yankees have outscored the Twins 9-1 and outhit them 26-11 in winning the first two games of the series, improving to 118-44 against them since 2002. That’s the best record by any major league club against any intraleague opponent over that 23-season span.
The Yankees, who have won 10 of their last 13 games, improved to 30-15 at Target Field. That’s the highest winning percentage by any team to play a minimum of 15 games over the ballpark’s 15 seasons.
Twins starter Pablo López (4-3) surrendered a season-high 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. He gave up three runs.
Willi Castro, who has played center field for the majority of Byron Buxton’s 12-game absence with inflammation in his right knee, had a rough night for the Twins (24-18). He caught Volpe’s medium-depth fly ball for the second out of the second, but — believing the inning was over — started jogging toward the infield before realizing his mistake and hastily throwing the ball in.
Gleyber Torres likely would have scored anyway, but the gaffe clearly frustrated Castro. He caught the third out, too, and quickly whirled around to chuck the ball high into the seats behind right-center.
“He needs to do a better job of controlling himself, but I know why he’s feeling the way he’s feeling,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The only way to get that right is to, I think, keep playing him.”
Buxton began a two-game rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul on Wednesday night, going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.
GAME THREE PREVIEW
New York Yankees (29-15, first in the AL East) vs. Minnesota Twins (24-18, third in the AL Central)
Minneapolis; Thursday, 12:10 p.m. Pregame 11:30 a.m. on WCCO Radio and the Audacy app.
PITCHING PROBABLES: Yankees: Clarke Schmidt (4-1, 2.95 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 47 strikeouts); Twins: Joe Ryan (2-2, 3.21 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 53 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Twins -120, Yankees +100; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The New York Yankees play the Minnesota Twins after Aaron Judge had four hits on Wednesday in a 4-0 win over the Twins.
Minnesota has a 24-18 record overall and an 11-10 record in home games. The Twins have a 15-4 record in games when they record at least eight hits.
New York is 29-15 overall and 16-9 in road games. The Yankees are 24-2 in games when they record at least eight hits.
Thursday’s game is the third meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ryan Jeffers leads the Twins with 10 home runs while slugging .606. Max Kepler is 13-for-33 with seven doubles, a home run and six RBI over the last 10 games.
Juan Soto has nine home runs, 29 walks and 34 RBI while hitting .310 for the Yankees. Judge is 16-for-36 with seven doubles, five home runs and 11 RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 5-5, .231 batting average, 4.65 ERA, outscored by one run
Yankees: 8-2, .289 batting average, 2.86 ERA, outscored opponents by 25 runs
INJURIES: Twins: Brock Stewart: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Byron Buxton: 10-Day IL (knee), Daniel Duarte: 60-Day IL (tricep), Zack Weiss: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Royce Lewis: 10-Day IL (quadricep), Justin Topa: 15-Day IL (knee), Anthony DeSclafani: 60-Day IL (elbow), Josh Winder: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
Yankees: Jonathan Loaisiga: 60-Day IL (elbow), JT Brubaker: 60-Day IL (elbow), DJ LeMahieu: 10-Day IL (foot), Oswald Peraza: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Tommy Kahnle: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Gerrit Cole: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lou Trivino: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jasson Dominguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Scott Effross: 60-Day IL (back)
NEXT UP: The Twins head to Cleveland for a key early-season series against the first place Guardians Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Twins have slid into third place in the AL Central behind Kansas City, but are still just 2 games out of first.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.