Replay review doesn't go Yankees' way in rare loss to Twins
Gleyber Torres of the Yankees strikes out during the ninth inning against the Twins at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees finally lost to the Twins on Thursday night, which is a shocking development considering what usually happens when these teams meet.
A questionable replay review call and a two-run home run by former Astros shortstop Carlos Correa – the Bronx’s biggest villain this side of Jose Altuve – led the Twins to a 4-3 victory before 35,551 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees had been 114-39 against the Twins since 2002 and 24-2 vs. Minnesota since 2015 in the Bronx, both including postseason.
Correa only got to bat with two outs in the eighth inning of a 2-2 game because replay umpires did not overturn a safe call at first base two batters earlier, much to Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s chagrin.
Jake Cave was called safe by umpire Alex Tosi when Yankees pitcher Wandy Peralta was covering first on a grounder to first baseman Marwin Gonzalez. Peralta stabbed at the bag twice with his foot, but definitely stepped on it before Cave.
But the runner was called safe, possibly because Peralta appeared to be juggling the ball. The Yankees challenged, the call was upheld, but no explanation for the replay umpires’ ruling was shared with the crowd.
Boone came out to ask the umpires for an explanation. Considering Boone threw his hands up in disgust as he walked back to the dugout, the answer – whatever it was -- didn’t please him.
"What did you think?" a still-peeved Boone asked a reporter. "You think he bobbled it? Then there you go. I guess that's why it stood."
Asked what he saw, Boone said: "I think he's out. And you've got to live with the stand [not overturning]. That's just how the system goes."
So Cave was on first with one out. Peralta struck out Kyle Garlick for the second out. Boone called on rookie righthander (and Bay Shore native) Greg Weissert to face Correa.
Weissert was making his seventh appearance. He had picked up wins in three of his last six, including the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader sweep.
But Correa, who was booed during all four games of this series because of his presence on the scandal-scarred 2017 Astros, slugged a two-run home run to left to give Minnesota a 4-2 lead.
The Yankees got to within 4-3 in the eighth when Aaron Judge scored on a wild pitch. With two outs and runners on first and third, Boone called on Giancarlo Stanton to pinch hit for Estevan Florial. Stanton had been out since twice fouling a ball off his left foot on Monday.
Stanton battled hard-throwing lefthander Caleb Thielbar to 3-and-2 before swinging through a 74-mile per hour curve to end the inning.
Boone said he wasn't sure if Stanton would be able to start on Friday, but he liked the quality of the at-bat.
"I thought he had a great at-bat," Boone said. "Just missed a handful [of pitches]. I think Thielbar really executed against him. I thought tonight was really encouraging to see [Stanton] have that level (
[of an] at-bat. Got beat with a really good slow breaking ball after Thielbar did a good job of locating up and up above the zone."
The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the ninth on Oswald Peraza’s single, Aaron Hicks’ double and an intentional walk to Judge.
But Gleyber Torres struck out and unlikely cleanup batter Isiah Kiner-Falefa grounded to second against righthander Michael Fulmer to end the game.
"We still had our chances," Boone said. "Just came up a little bit short."
The Twins salvaged the final game of the series and ended the Yankees’ four-game winning streak. The Yankees lead Tampa Bay by 4½ games in the AL East with the Rays coming to the Bronx on Friday to open a three-game series.
Judge (2-for-4, double) did not homer for the second straight game after homering in four consecutive games to get to 55.
Judge was walked five times in the doubleheader on Wednesday, including three intentional walks.
Perhaps with that in mind, Judge saw only four pitches in his three at-bats against former Yankee Sonny Gray. Judge grounded to third on the first pitch in the first inning, lined a first-pitch single to left in the third and hit a high, shallow fly to right on the second pitch in the fifth.
In the eighth, against righthander Jorge Lopez, Judge doubled to left on a 2-and-2 pitch.
Nestor Cortes was activated off the injured list to start for the Yankees. Cortes, who had been out since Aug. 22 with a left groin strain, retired the first 12 Twins, a perfect game through four innings.
Miguel Andujar gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer to left off Gray in the second. It was Andujar’s first home run of the season.
Gio Urshela was the first baserunner allowed by Cortes when he singled to open the fifth. Gary Sanchez continued the ex-Yankees parade when he doubled to left-center to make it 2-1.
That was it for Cortes, who threw 58 pitches. Clarke Schmidt allowed a one-out, game-tying single to Nick Gordon. Schmidt ended up throwing three shutout innings.
Gray was making his first start against the Yankees since they traded him to the Reds in January 2019 after a disappointing year and a half stay in the Bronx.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
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