YANKEES SWEEP TWINS

- April Claudio, Contributor

The New York Yankees swept The Minnesota Twins and have now won 11 of their last 14 games giving The Bronx Bombers the second best record in the major leagues (30-15).

Tuesday the Yankees began their 3 game series in Minnesota against the Twins. Carlos Rodon had a stellar performance holding the Twins to one run in 6 innings, a home run by Ryan Jeffers in the first inning. He also struck out 6 batters. Chris Paddack got the start for the Twins who gave up five runs in 5 innings. The Yankees loaded the bases at the top of the second inning and scored two runs on a sacrifice fly by Oswaldo Cabrera and a double by Anthony Volpe. The Yankees other runs came from a Giancarlo Stanton solo home run in the third inning and a two run double by Alex Verdugo in the fourth inning. The Yankees bullpen held the Twins to the one run and the Yankees won 5-1.

Wednesday Marcus Stroman and the Yankees bullpen shut out the Twins; winning 4-0. Stroman pitched six innings and only gave up two hits. Luke Weaver gave up two hits in two innings of relief and Caleb Ferguson came in to close the game. Pablo Lopez was on the mound for the Twins and pitched 6.1 innings and gave up 3 runs. The Yankees runs came from Aaron Judge hitting a monster solo home run (467 feet) in the first inning, Gleyber Torres scoring on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Volpe in the second inning, Judge scoring on a Giancarlo Stanton single in the third inning and Juan Soto scoring an Aaron Judge double in the seventh inning.

Thursday Clarke Schmidt faced off against Joe Ryan and the Yankees won 5-0.  Schmidt had another phenomenal outing pitching a career long 8 innings with 8 strikeouts and only gave up 3 hits.  Ryan only pitched 5.1 innings and gave up 4 of the 5 runs. The Twins used four different relievers to finish the game. Anthony Volpe kicked the game off strong with a solo home run in his first at bat. Two more runs scored in the first inning off a Gleyber Torres double and Anthony Rizzo ground out. The Yankees were up 3 runs in the first inning. Their other two runs came from Torres scoring on a single by Austin Wells in the sixth inning and Juan Soto scoring in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Alex Verdugo.

The Yankees will head into the weekend with a 3 game series against the 14-30 White Sox.