Former Yankees Sonny Gray, Joey Gallo torment their old team

MINNEAPOLIS — Two players who wilted under the spotlight that comes with playing for the Yankees tag-teamed to do in their former team Monday night.

Sonny Gray continued his stellar start to the season with seven scoreless innings and Joey Gallo hit a 432-foot home run as the Twins beat the Yankees, 6-1, in front of 16,242 fans at Target Field on a frigid 43-degree night (the swirling wind made it feel much colder).

Gray, the marquee addition at the 2017 trade deadline who went 15-16 with a 4.51 ERA in 2017-18 with the Yankees, improved to 3-0 with a 0.62 ERA this season after allowing three hits and two walks. The righthander struck out eight.

“That cutter, that good feel for the cutter,” Aaron Judge said of the difference between the Gray he played with and the current iteration. “Back when we had him, he had a great feel for his slider and curveball and sinker combo, using both sides of the plate. Now he mixes that cutter in there to kind of keep you honest a little bit. You can’t lean out over the plate on the slider or hunt the fastball because he’ll throw that cutter in there anytime, any count. He went out there and did his job tonight, and we didn’t get it done.”

Gallo, now playing primarily first base instead of the outfield, hit his sixth homer, a solo shot off Greg Weissert in the fourth that made it 4-0. He declined to speak to the media afterward.

The two-time All-Star arrived in the Bronx with much fanfare at the 2021 trade deadline but hit .159 with 25 homers and a .660 OPS with the Yankees. He heard the loudest boos at the Stadium of anyone not named Aaron Hicks before being dealt to the Dodgers before last year’s trade deadline.

The Yankees (13-10), who came into the night 72-30 against the Twins since 2008, were held to six hits as they lost for the third time in five tries against Minnesota in 2023. They have scored 33 runs in the last 11 games (including only six in the last four) and haven’t managed more than three runs in nine of the 11 games.

“Gotta keep swinging,” Judge said of the recent offensive struggles. “Gotta keep having productive at-bats, team at-bats. I think that’s the most important thing in a situation like this is trying to do the little things . . . We couldn’t really get firing. We have to try to jump out early on teams and score early and put the pressure on them. Right now we’re kind of taking a while getting into the game, and it’s not doing the job. We have to jump on them early, and that starts tomorrow.”

After Gray departed, the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against righthander Griffin Jax, but Anthony Rizzo struck out on three pitches, the last of those swinging at a slider down and in.

The Yankees loaded the bases with none out in the ninth but managed only one run on Oswaldo Cabrera’s forceout.

Jhony Brito, tagged for seven first-inning runs in a loss to the Twins on April 13, was better than that Monday, but only by degree. The rookie righthander, who fell to 2-2 with a 6.11 ERA, allowed three runs, three hits and three walks in 2 2⁄3 innings. Brito, who threw 80 pitches, retired five of the first six batters but was unable to get out of a three-run third.

“The first inning, the location was really good,” Brito, who didn’t have much in the way of swing-and-miss stuff, said through his interpreter. “After that I think I lost a little bit on location with my pitches.”

Gray, who needed only 35 pitches to navigate the first three innings, allowed a one-out double to rightfield in the fourth to Judge, who came into the at-bat in a 5-for-38 (.132) skid. Gray got out it, retiring Rizzo on a grounder to second and striking out Gleyber Torres swinging at a slider.

“First and foremost, Sonny’s throwing the ball great,” Aaron Boone said. “Kind of more of the same of what he’s been doing all year, but that being said, we’re the Yankees and we have to find a way to do a little better than that.”