Yankees-Twins scoreless game suspended after five innings

MINNEAPOLIS - The Yankees have brought their slumbering lumber to the Twin Cities.

After failing to hit against the Mets much of the weekend at Citi Field, the Yankees collected only three hits in five innings last night before a thunderstorm caused a suspension of their scoreless game with the Twins at the new Target Field.

A.J. Burnett, who had lost two of his previous three starts, and Scott Baker, who came in 4-4 with a 4.88 ERA, matched zeros through five innings before the tarp was pulled on the field at 8:32 Central Time. It was the first rain delay of a Twins game in Minneapolis since 1981, the last year the Twins played in Metropolitan Stadium, an outdoor facility. The Twins played in the Metrodome from 1982 through last season.

After a delay of 1 hour, 23 minutes, the game was suspended and will be resumed this afternoon at 5:05 Eastern time The second game, which matches Andy Pettitte (5-1, 2.86) against Francisco Liriano (4-3, 3.25), will start at 6:10, or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

When the Yankees had to play a doubleheader in Detroit two weeks ago, they brought up Jonathan Albaladejo to be on standby in case their bullpen got fried in the first game. Manager Joe Girardi said he planned to talk to general manager Brian Cashman last night, but hinted bringing up a standby pitcher might not be necessary, given that Sergio Mitre, who started games May 10 and May 16, "can give you a lot of pitches," and that the bullpen benefited from a day off.

"Our bullpen's pretty fresh," Girardi said.

Burnett came in having lost two of his last three, including last Wednesday's 10-6 loss to the Rays, when he allowed nine hits and six runs in 62/3 innings. But after allowing two runners to reach in each of the first two innings - and escaping each jam - last night, Burnett fell into a rhythm.

"After the first, I felt like I got into a pretty good groove," said Burnett, who could still pick up the win if the Yankees take the lead, and hold it, in the top of the sixth. "It was good, so I'll remember how that felt, obviously, going into my next start to be relaxed. I didn't overdo a lot out there and that was my main goal - to not overthrow a single pitch and that's pretty much what I did."

Girardi observed before the game that Target Field seemed to "play pretty big," something Twins players have talked about this season and experienced in a 1-2-3 bottom of the third. Burnett retired Orlando Hudson and Joe Mauer to start the inning, then gave up a long fly to right by Justin Morneau that Girardi said "I thought had a shot" of leaving the park.

Instead, Nick Swisher made the catch on the track, though with not much room to spare.

"He got more of it than I thought," Burnett said. "But it's an out."

The Yankees had their only good opportunity against Scott Baker in the fourth as Jeter singled up the middle and Brett Gardner walked. But the struggling Mark Teixeira, in a 3-for-28 slump coming in, popped out to first, Alex Rodriguez struck out and Robinson Cano flew to center to end the threat.

"It's the ebb and flow of the season," Teixeira said. "We obviously haven't been swinging the bats like we're capable of, but everyone's working hard, everyone's trying to get the job done. I have a good feeling we're going to bounce back."