WATCH: Twins' Tyler Austin talks Yankees trade shock

Twins first baseman Tyler Austin talks about his surprise when the Yankees traded him midseason for pitcher Lance Lynn.

MINNEAPOLIS — Tyler Austin didn’t understand.

When he got pulled from a game with the Yankees‘ Triple-A club, nobody said a word to him. Then, when it ended, general manager Brian Cashman called. Cashman told him he’d been traded to the Twins in exchange for pitcher Lance Lynn.

“I was telling guys earlier, as a baseball player, you never know what’s going to happen,” Austin said before Monday’s Yankees-Twins game at Target Field.

“So when I got taken out of the game, I didn’t know what was going on. After the game, Cashman called me and told me I’d been traded. So, yeah, I was a little bit surprised, but like I said, in this game, you never know what’s going to happen.”

Austin won’t play Monday due to lower-back pain, but said he hopes to at least get into the series finale Wednesday.

Watch Austin react to the trade in the video above.

Move Andujar to LF?

AT A GLANCE: The Yankees are 3-3 on their nine-game, 10-day road trip… won 2-of-3 at Seattle after losing 2-of-3 at Oakland… begin 3G at Minnesota (tonight-Wed.)… following an off day Thursday, return to the Bronx for their final homestand of the season, incl. 3G vs. Toronto (Fri.-Sun.), 3G vs. Boston (9/18-20) and 3G vs. Baltimore (9/21-23).
>> Are 5-6 in their last 11G , but are 14-8 in their last 22G and 21-12 in 33G since 8/6… are 80-45 since 4/21.
>> At 89-54 (.622), are tied with Houston (89-54, .622) for the Majors’ second-best record and second-most wins behind Boston (98-46, .681)… the Yankees and Red Sox have held (at least a share of) the Majors’ two best records for 116 of the last 130 days (since the end of play on 5/3).

BEAN COUNTING: Any combination of 11 Boston wins or Yankees losses will eliminate the possibility of the Yankees winning the AL East… in the AL Wild Card race, the Yankees have magic numbers (Yankees wins or opp. losses) to clinch playoff standing ahead of the following teams: Oakland (19), Seattle (10), Tampa Bay (10), Los Angeles-AL (2)… will secure a postseason berth by clinching a better record than three of these teams.

TWIN KILLING: The Yankees have won seven consecutive games against the Twins, with all 7G coming at Yankee Stadium… is tied for their longest winning streak over one opponent since they won eight straight over Minnesota from 7/25/15-6/18/16… are 18-4 vs. Minnesota since 7/25/15.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.