by Tamar Chalker
June 9, 2022
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While it looked like we might have a bit of a pitchers duel on our hands Wednesday night, Nestor Cortes had one of his tougher starts of the season, and the Yankees' offense struggled to find an answer. Despite a couple of opportunities, the Yankees' win streak was ended as they fell to the Twins 8-1.
Quick Stats - Nestor Cortes, Jr. after throwing three perfect innings, only lasted 4.1 on the night. He gave up four runs on seven hits and two homers. He struck out three and got the loss.
Chris Archer picked up his first win of the season, despite issuing four walks to the Yankees. He allowed just one run on two hits.
Jose Miranda had a big night for the Twins, going 3-4 with three RBIs and a run scored.
Big Story - The Yankees are off to a hot start this season and have shown strength on both sides of the plate. Their pitching has generally been outstanding and their offense has found ways to win. That was not the case on Wednesday.
Cortes, who has been phenomenal this season looked like he was off to another stellar start when he put down the Twins' first nine batters in order. Unfortunately, the wheels started to fall off in the fourth. He started the fourth by giving up back-to-back singles and then former Yankee Gio Urshela drove in the first run of the game.
The Yankees got a run back in the top of the fifth, but Cortes' struggles continued. He gave up a pair of solo homers and Boone replaced him with Clarke Schmidt. Unfortunately, Schmidt struggled as well, giving up four runs on three hits and two walks in 1.2 innings. Manuel Banuelos put together a solid outing, but by then it was too late and the Yankees' bats were too quiet.
Player(s) of the Game - Jose Miranda was 3-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. His bat drove the offense for the Twins and put the game away.
Notable Performances - Manuel Banuelos had his second strong outing since returning to the Yankees. The former member of the "Killer Bs" that never really seemed to come to fruition threw another two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out two.
Aaron Hicks accounted for the bulk of the Yankees' offense on Wednesday night. He went 2-3 and scored a run. The Yankees only managed four hits on the day and one run. Hicks also had a nice defensive play, throwing out Urshela at the plate when the game was still in reach.
Better to Forget - Gleyber Torres went 0-3 with a walk and a K. When the game was still scoreless, the Yankees had the bases loaded with Torres up and he hit into a double play.
My Take - It's been a long week with not a lot of sleep and I don't think this game was really indicative of anything major for the Yankees, so I'm going to bullet point my main thoughts on the game.
Nestor had his first bad outing and it really wasn't that awful, it just happened to fall on a night where the Yankees' offense was anemic.
Speaking of the offense, New York really did blow a few chances. Early in the game, the Twins looked like they were trying to give the Yankees the lead. Archer was struggling to throw strikes and an error gave the Yankees the bases loaded with just one out. The Twins then made a very good play to complete the double play to end the inning.
Hicks was the main bright spot in the offense - which would have been terrifying if I was saying this a week ago, but he's off to a hot start in June. In seven games, Hicks is hitting .409 with an on-base percentage of .519. He's got his confidence back on defense, too, so I'm hoping he has turned the corner.
I'm excited to see if Manuel Banuelos can figure it out this time. There were such high hopes for him as he was coming up through the minors, it's great to see him back with the Yankees and showing some good stuff.
Next Up - The Yankees and Twins will finish up the series tonight when Gerrit Cole will square off against Dylan Bundy. Cole is 5-1 with a 2.78 ERA and has been pitching very well of late. Bundy is 3-3 with a 5.57 ERA. He is coming off a loss to Toronto where he gave up five earned runs (six total runs) on two homers and eight hits in just 2.1 innings of work. First pitch is at 7:40pm (EST) at Target Field.
Hmm call it a coincidence or a trend, but little fishy that Taillon and then Cortes have back to back awful starts. Maybe some regression was obviously due, but for 2 guys to complete look lost on the mound something more seems afoot. Were they tipping pitches?? Or something more sinister such as Correa bringing his circus on the road with him (obvs not true but couldn't resist lol)...
I missed the entire game last night as I had a function to attend. Watched the abridged highlights though but couldn't really get a feel for Nestor Cortes's or Clarke Schmidt and what was off about each of their outings. The Twins seemed to be all over both of them from the look of the box score. :(
Hicks is hot? Check the velo on Hicksie's hits....LOL. Stop propping this stiff up. Are you his Agent? The guy is a STIFF.
Guidry lost three games in 1978. It happens. What I'd like to see is them do tonight is shrug it off, come out hitting, and Cole have a shut-down game.