Aroldis Chapman blows save and game in ninth after giving up two home runs

MINNEAPOLIS — For eight innings, this one went as so many Yankees-Twins games have over the years.

Then, in a span of nine pitches from Aroldis Chapman, it changed dramatically in the ninth.

Chapman allowed a pair of two-run homers as the Twins turned a two-run deficit into a shocking 7-5 victory over the Yankees in front of 17,728 at Target Field. He allowed four hits and didn't record an out.

After a line-drive single by Jorge Polanco, Chapman fell behind Josh Donaldson 1-and-0. Then he threw three more pitches — a no-doubt 438-foot homer to left-center by Donaldson that tied the score, a line-drive single by Willians Astudillo and a no-doubt 457-foot two-run homer to center by Nelson Cruz that won it.

Chapman entered the game with a 0.39 ERA, having allowed one earned run and seven hits in 23 innings with 43 strikeouts.

"He's such a stud that you totally expect it to be a quick one-two-three [inning] with two, possibly three punchouts," said Michael King, who started and allowed two runs and four hits in 3 2/3 innings. "So it's tough. That's how baseball works."

The Yankees had led virtually the entire game, thanks to a three-run homer by Giancarlo Stanton in the first and a solo shot by Gio Urshela in the fourth that gave them a 4-1 lead.

Said Aaron Boone, "It stings. I mean, no two ways about it, especially on a night when we did a lot of things really well."

The Yankees (33-30) were denied a three-game sweep against a team they were 105-38 against since 2002, including the postseason.

Chapman sports a fastball that routinely hits triple digits. It was noticeably down Thursday as he sat 95-97 mph.

"I felt normal tonight. Nothing different," he said through his interpreter. "Just a bad night tonight."

The Yankees, who outscored the Twins 17-10 in the first two games of the series and outhit them 29-21, had 12 hits Thursday, the same number as Minnesota (25-37).

It was that kind of production that stood out to the Yankees more than the loss.

Said Boone, "I try and look at this game that we just played and look at the quality of the at-bats and some of the offensive momentum guys are starting to build and some of the quality of at-bats and the heaviness of the lineup. We've got to build on that."

The Yankees jumped ahead of former teammate J.A. Happ early.

After singles by Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres (three hits), Stanton blasted a 2-and-1 slider to center for a 3-0 lead. Stanton had two homers, a double and five RBIs the night before.

Urshela, who tripled with one out in the first but was thrown out at the plate trying to advance on a ball that went to the backstop with two outs, led off the fourth with his seventh homer, a crushed shot on a 2-and-2 fastball that banged off the second deck in left for a 4-1 lead. It ricocheted so hard that leftfielder Trevor Larnach caught the rebound before tossing it to a fan.

King could not get out of the bottom half. Miguel Sano led off with a single and, after a sacrifice bunt by Ben Rortvedt, Andrelton Simmons' RBI double into the gap in left-center made it 4-2. King retired Gilbert Celestino on a sharp grounder to third and Boone made the call for lefty Lucas Luetge, who hit the first batter he faced but got out of the inning by striking out Donaldson looking.

DJ LeMahieu’s RBI single in the sixth made it 5-2, and even when the Twins crawled within 5-3 in the seventh on Cruz’s RBI single off Wandy Peralta, Chad Green struck out two in 1 1/3 dominant innings to set up Chapman for a ninth inning that seemed as if it would be a formality. Until it wasn’t.

"That would have been great to get to the sweep here, especially leading the whole game," Stanton said. "But that happens. That’s baseball. We’ve got to bounce back. Have a day off and bounce back for the weekend."