Yankees

Yankees Rally Past Twins, Judge Homers and October Is Official

By ••3 min read
Yankees Rally Past Twins, Judge Homers and October Is Official

AI Overview

The Yankees rallied for six runs in the eighth inning to beat the Twins 8-3 Monday in Minnesota, with Aaron Judge hitting his first home run since returning from the injured list. Detroit’s win over Toronto afterward officially clinched New York’s 61st postseason berth and ninth in the last 10 seasons. The Yankees improved to 87-63 and have won six of their last seven.

The Yankees are officially going back to October.

It took them 7 innings to wake up Monday night in Minnesota, but once they did, the Twins had absolutely no answer.

New York erupted for 6 runs in the 8th inning, Aaron Judge finally launched his first home run since returning from the injured list, and the Yankees beat Minnesota 8-3 at Target Field.

Then came the other piece of business.

Detroit beat Toronto shortly afterward, officially clinching a postseason berth for the Yankees for the 61st time in franchise history and the 9th time in the last 10 seasons.

The Yankees improved to 87-63, have now won 6 of their last 7 and moved a season-high 24 games over .500.

Caballero Gets Them Started

For most of the night, this looked like another one of those games where the Yankees were going to waste solid pitching because the offense refused to do anything.

Jose Caballero gave them their first lead in the 3rd inning, jumping on a pitch from Dean Kremer and sending it over the left-field wall for his 14th home run of the season.

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That 1-0 lead lasted until the 6th.

Will Warren had pitched around traffic all night, but a Ryan McMahon fielding error opened the door. Josh Bell singled with 2 outs before Emmanuel Rodriguez drove a triple into center field, scoring 2 and putting Minnesota ahead 2-1.

The important part for Warren: neither run was earned.

He finished with 5.2 innings, 5 hits, 2 unearned runs, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. Another strong outing from Warren, even if the lineup wasn’t giving him much support early.

Then The 8th Inning Happened

George Lombard Jr. opened the inning with a double.

McMahon followed with an infield single, and Anthony Volpe entered as a pinch-runner. After Austin Wells struck out, Caballero came through again with an RBI single to center that scored Lombard and tied the game 2-2.

Then the Yankees kept coming.

Volpe stole third, Caballero moved into scoring position, and Ben Rice dropped a 2-run single into shallow center.

Just like that, 2-1 Twins became 4-2 Yankees.

Cody Bellinger followed with an infield hit, bringing Judge to the plate with 2 runners aboard.

This was the swing Yankees fans had been waiting for.

Judge crushed a 3-run homer into the second deck in left field, his 18th home run of the season and his first since May 24.

He had gone just 3-for-20 with 11 strikeouts since returning after missing 84 games with his fractured rib.

One swing changed the conversation.

7-2 Yankees.

October Is Official

Bell got one back with a solo homer against Tim Hill in the bottom of the 8th, but Austin Wells answered with his own solo shot in the 9th to make it 8-3.

John Schreiber handled the final 1.1 innings without allowing a hit and picked up the save.

Caballero finished 2-for-4 with 2 runs, 2 RBI and a homer. Rice went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Judge drove in 3. Wells added his 12th homer.

And now the Yankees have officially punched their ticket.

But clinching a playoff spot should not be the finish line for this team.

They are still 3.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.

The Wild Card is secured territory. Now go chase the division.

Because if Judge is really starting to find his swing again at the same time this team is heating up, September just became a lot more interesting.

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