The Twins won’t be going to the postseason this season, but over the next week and a half, they could have a big say in who does.
The Twins kicked off a series with the New York Yankees on Monday night at Target Field. They’ll follow that up with a four-game set against the Cleveland Guardians before heading to Texas to play the Rangers for three.
All three teams are fighting for a wild card berth. And on Monday, in their first chance to play spoiler, the Twins beat the Yankees 7-0 behind one of the best starts of Simeon Woods Richardson’s career.
In his six shutout innings, Woods Richardson recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts, including five straight from the third inning to fifth. The starter relied heavily on his splitter, getting eight of his swing and misses on the pitch.
Woods Richardson walked Aaron Judge in the sixth inning, and the Yankees star advanced to second on a wild pitch. But the pitcher finished off his outing by getting a pair of batters to strike out. It was just the second time this season he had completed six innings.
Woods Richardson, who allowed just two hits, outdueled Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, who completely stifled the Twins the last time the two teams played. The Twins scored their first run in the third inning when the Yankees were unable to turn a double play on an Austin Martin groundball.
Brooks Lee’s 15th home run of the season was the only other run the Twins would get off Rodón in his six innings. But after his departure, they broke through. After Lee drove in his second run with a double to right, Martin had the big hit of the game, sending his own double out to left to clear the bases.
Three runs scored on the play, and a fifth in the inning came home on Luke Keaschall’s single, which ricocheted off of reliever Camilo Doval’s glove and into the outfield.
Though the game was well in hand at that point, Martin had one more highlight for good measure.
With a pair of runners on and two outs in the eighth inning, Cody Bellinger hit a fly ball to left, which Martin tracked down, snagging the ball just before the upper half of his body fell over the low side wall. He got up and walked a few steps before holding up his red and black glove, ball in the middle of the pocket, for third base umpire D.J. Reyburn to inspect, setting off a roar in the crowd.
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