The Yankees and the Twins, in Minnesota, have played some crazy baseball. After last night I couldn't help but about July 23rd, 2019.
July 23rd, 2019:
Maybe one of the best true baseball games in recent history, the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins not only combined for 26 runs, but the game went into extra innings, featured 6 home runs between the two teams, and featured 6 lead-changes including in each half inning from the 8th until the 10th.
The Yankees quickly got ahead in the game with 2 runs in the first from a Didi Gregorius RBI double (score 2-0, Yankees). Then, the Twins slowly creeped back and took the lead while scoring in the 2nd with a Luis Arraez RBI single (score 2-1, Yankees), in the 3rd with back-to-back solo homeruns from Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz (score 3-2, Twins), and in the 4th with an RBI single from Jason Castro, an RBI groundout from Eddie Rosario, and a 3-run home run from Miguel Sano (score 8-2, Twins).
The Yankees would score in the top of the 5th thanks to a 3-run home run from Didi Gregorius (score 8-5, Twins), and the Twins quickly responded with an insurance run via a Jorge Polanco RBI double (score 9-5, Twins). Then there was a scoreless lull between the 6th and 7th innings for both the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins.
Going into the 8th inning, the Yankees started to mount their comeback off the heels of three RBI doubles from Mike Tauchman, Aaron Judge [2 RBI's], and Didi Gregorius [2 RBI's] (score 10-9, Yankees). Though, as the game had shown, the Twins were not having it, scoring 2 via another Miguel Sano long-ball in the bottom of the 8th (score 11-10, Twins).
The 9th inning was also exciting as the Yankees came back with a late great 2-run home run from Aaron Hicks to provide another lead (score 12-11, Yankees)...though, this didn't hold as Jorge Polanco collected his 3rd RBI on the night with a sacrifice fly to tie the game and bring on extra innings (score 12-12, tie).
In the 10th, the Yankees scored two runs early via a Gleyber Torres RBI single and an Austin Romine run scoring on a wild pitch to Mike Tauchman (score 14-12, Yankees). Then...disaster almost struck as Adam Ottavino collected 2 outs while walking the bases loaded and Chad Green allowed a fantastic ball to be hit off the bat of Max Kepler.
Then, Aaron Hicks made what may be the rivals to "The Catch". To see the MLB game recap, check it out here:
June 9th, 2022:
Last nights game started much the same as that famous game from 2019. The two teams combined for 17 runs, including 9 home runs, and 3 lead changes.
The Yankees started off the game with a quick run via a Josh Donaldson sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning (score 1-0, Yankees) and then disaster struck. To lead off the game, Gerrit Cole looked like a chef at Rivoli's in Toms River, NJ by serving up some absolute meatballs as Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton, and Carlos Correa hit back-to-back-to-back solo home runs (score 3-1, Twins).
Luckily, the Yankees fired back quickly as Joey Gallo hit a 2-run home run to tie the game back up quickly in the 2nd inning (score 3-3, tie). However, the Twins added more runs in the 2nd as Byron Buxton hit another home run to add 3 more runs onto the board (score 6-3, Twins). And if that wasn't enough, Trevor Larnach hit a solo home run of his own in the 3rd inning to essentially end Gerrit Cole's day (score 7-3). The Yankees needed to stop the bleeding, and they did by the likes of Lucas Luetge.
It took after an inning of lull in the 4th, but the Yankees were about to explode consistent runs. In the 5th inning the Yankees had back-to-back home runs of their own from Joey Gallo and DJ LeMahieu (score 7-5, Twins). In the 6th inning the Yankees scored two more via an Aaron Hicks home run to tie the game (7-7, tie), and in the 7th the Yankees had two RBI singles from Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Hicks to give them the lead (score 9-7, Yankees). And then the Yankees added an insurance run in the 8th inning on the back of a- and it brings me so much joy to say this- Gary Sanchez passed ball to score Anthony Rizzo (score 10-7, Yankees).
To watch the MLB recap, check that out here:
And, hey! I'm not the only one who thought these games were similar!
If you want to watch the video in question, check it out here:
wasn't anybody demanding that Hicks get cut from the team on that night.
with both Gallo and Judge playing on expiring contracts, perhaps Hicks should be retained just a little bit longer
I thought the same thing last night when I tuned back into the game -- this is just like that game that went back and forth, and came down to the last play, Hicks' amazing diving catch.