The New York Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins in the American League Divisional Series. New York will move on to the 2019 ALCS and face the winner of the Astros vs. Rays series. Take a look at all the action in the series.
New York Takes Game 1
Minnesota had a good start to their Postseason, at least for the first couple of innings. A pair of home runs by Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz had them out in front 2-0. It didn’t take long for New York to answer back in the bottom of the third. Edwin Encarnacion and Gleyber Torres took the lead on an RBI double and a fielding error. The Twins kept trading runs as Polanco came through again with an RBI single to tie things up at three apiece at the top of the fifth. Torres gave his team the lead once again with a two-run double in the bottom of the inning.
Miguel Sano scored one more run for the Twins in the sixth before the Yankees blew the game wide open. DJ LeMahieu and Brett Gardner went deep to put New York up by three. The former Rockie put things out of reach with a three-run double in the seventh.
Final Score: Twins 4-10 Yankees
Didi Did The Job
Randy Dobnak went head to head with Masahiro Tanaka on the mound for Saturday’s game. The Twins starter struggled all throughout his short outing. Encarnacion opened up the scoring early for New York with an RBI single in the first. The third frame was a big one for the home team. Giancarlo Stanton brought in another run with a sacrifice fly as Aaron Judge crossed the plate. Torres put them up by three with an RBI single. Didi Gregorius hit a grand slam and Gardner added one more for good measure. Yankees were ahead 8-0 by the end of the inning.
Mitch Garver tried to spark things up for the Twins. Unfortunately for him, he only brought in a single run. They’ll have to wait a while to score again. The Twins’ second and final run of the game came thanks to Luis Arraez. He doubled off reliever Tyler Lyons to drive in Cruz. Yankees had a 2-0 series lead and were ready to finish things up on Monday.
Final Score: Twins 2-8 Yankees
Finishing The Sweep
The third and final game of this 2019 ALDS matchup saw Jake Odorizzi square off against Luis Severino. New York got on the scoreboard early. Torres hit a homer in the first and Gardner brought another run in with an RBI single an inning later. Severino got into trouble here and there early on. Nonetheless, he was able to keep the lead intact.
Severino pitched 4 shutout innings and struck out four. Minnesota’s starter, on the other hand, pitched 5 innings and struck out five before handing the baseball to Taylor Rogers. The Twins were close to scoring during the middle innings, but the Yankee bullpen did a good job in relief, Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, and Chad Green gave up just a pair of hits combined.
Gregorius added one more run to the Yankees’ lead with an RBI single in the top of the seventh. Eddie Rosario put his team on the board an inning later with a solo home run. Cameron Maybin took that run right back with a solo homer of his own in the ninth. Moments later, Didi came through again with another RBI.
Aroldis Chapman closed things out for the Yankees to end the series and send his team to the 2019 ALCS.
Final Score: Yankees 5-1 Twins
Where To Watch
New York will face the winner of the Astros v Rays series in the 2019 ALCS. Series kicks off this Saturday on FOX and FS1.
ICYMI: You can still take a look at our final AL and NL Power Rankings