Aaron Judge hits 55th home run in opener, Isiah Kiner-Falefa has slam in nightcap as Yankees sweep Twins
Yankees players celebrate with Oswaldo Cabrera after his walk-off single for a 5-4 win against the Twins in the twelfth inning during the first game of an MLB doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The weather felt a little like October in the Bronx for Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Twins. But the Yankees’ lineups looked like it was mid-March and the teams were playing in spring training.
Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa were the only regular starters in the order for both games.
And since the Yankees were playing the Twins, it didn’t really matter.
In the opener, Judge hit his 55th home run and the Yankees came back from a one-run deficit in the 12th inning to win, 5-4, on Oswaldo Cabrera’s two-out, walk-off single.
In the nightcap, Gerrit Cole struck out a season-high 14 in 6 2⁄3 innings and Kiner-Falefa hit his first career grand slam as the Yankees completed the sweep of their perennial patsies, 7-1
“I thought the stuff was crisp,” Cole said. “I thought the execution was crisp.”
The Yankees are 114-39 against the Twins since 2002 and 24-2 vs. Minnesota since 2015 in the Bronx, both including postseason.
Kiner-Falefa played third base in both games with Josh Donaldson on the paternity list. Kiner-Falefa tied Game 1 with an RBI single in the 12th and cracked a fourth-inning grand slam in Game 2 to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead.
“Last year I was on a 100-loss team,” Kiner-Falefa said when asked about his willingness to switch to third base. “Just helping out the team to make a postseason run, to be a part of it, means the world to me. So whatever it takes to win, that’s all I care about.”
Kiner-Falefa, who has hit two of his three home runs in the last three games, punctuated his slam with a bat flip worthy of a slugger.
Rookie Oswald Peraza started both games at short and went 3-for-5 in the opener, including his first big-league hit, a double into the leftfield corner in the third inning. He added a double and walk in four plate appearances in Game 2.
After the Yankees fell behind 3-0 in the opener, Judge led off the fourth with a homer to left. Judge went deep in his fourth consecutive game. He is six home runs shy of Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 from 1961. The Yankees have 25 games left.
Asked if getting closer to Maris’ mark is weighing on him, Judge said: “I don’t think so. Not at all.”
It was Judge’s 114th home run at the current Yankee Stadium, the most since the building opened in 2009. He was tied with Mark Teixeira.
After the home run, Judge was walked five times in the two games, including three intentional walks.
Judge’s blast made it 3-1. Torres hit a two-run homer in the sixth to tie the game.
It stayed tied until the Twins took a 4-3 lead on Gilberto Celestino’s RBI single in the top of the 12th.
The Yankees had been 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position when Kiner-Falefa opened the bottom half with a game-tying single to center to score ghost runner Marwin Gonzalez.
Kiner-Falefa stole second and moved to third on Jose Trevino’s single to right. Kiner-Falefa stopped at third, but Trevino kept going toward second and was caught in a rundown. But everyone ended up safe when the Twins tried and failed to get Kiner-Falefa going back to third.
After Peraza hit a short fly ball to left, Cabrera lined a single to left to end the four-hour, three-minute opener.
Bay Shore native Greg Weissert — another rookie coming up big — picked up his third win in his sixth MLB appearance.
“It seems to me that everything they’re doing, they’re doing well,” Domingo German, who started Game 1 and allowed three runs in six innings, said of the rookies through an interpreter. “They bring so much energy to the clubhouse. They’re focused, they’re paying attention, they’re executing. You can see the energy they bring. Even when it’s a high-adrenaline game, they still go out there and perform. It’s a good sign of how good they’re going to be in the future because they are doing it now.”
Cabrera also helped keep the game tied in the 10th when he threw out ghost runner Celestino at the plate on a single to right. It was Cabrera’s fifth outfield assist in 12 games in right.
“Love his poise and his makeup,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s not afraid.”
Cole was the pitching star of Game 2. He set a season high in pitches with 118 and allowed one run and five hits with two walks. Carlos Correa touched him for a home run in the third to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.
Cole finished the third by striking out Gio Urshela and then struck out the side in the fourth and two more in the fifth. He exited after a single by Sandy Leon to a standing ovation from the crowd of 30,157 and tipped his cap.
Aaron Hicks added a three-run double in the ninth.
The Yankees, who have an MLB-best 14 walk-off wins, have won four in a row.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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