"Now, what is this site about, how Joe Torre ruined pitchers' arms? Is that it?"
-Michael Kay, August 18, 2009

Monday, May 18, 2009

Tex, big first inning lead Yanks to sweep

CAL-T&T-300-FrenchStreetBroom Mark Teixeira hit home runs from both sides of the plate and the Yankees scored six runs in the first inning to complete a four-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins tonight at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees won 7-6.

With Andy Pettitte on the mound, the Yankees fell behind 2-0 after the top of the first inning.  However, they forced Twins starter Glen Perkins out of the game after retiring only two batters.

Teixeira started the scoring with a three-run home run after both Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon reached with singles.  Alex Rodriguez followed with a solo home run and Melky Cabrera and Francisco Cervelli added RBI singles as well.

Pettitte wasn’t great by any stretch of the imagination, but he essentially pitched to the scoreboard.  Up 6-2, he gave up 12 hits over 6 2/3 innings.  The Twins would score runs in the fourth and sixth innings off Pettitte before he was relieved by Jose Veras.  Veras walked a batter in the seventh to load the bases but got Carlos Gomez to fly out.

Up 6-4, Teixeira hit a solo home run in the seventh to extend the lead to three.  That would end up being huge.

Edwar Ramirez began the eighth inning and gave up a one-out home run to Denard Span.  After a two-out walk, Phil Coke was brought in.  Because Mariano Rivera had pitched three innings in two days, Coke stayed on for the ninth inning.

Coke walked two batters and gave up a run on a groundout, but because of Teixeira’s home run, the Yankees were up by two going into the inning.  Coke got Mike Redmond to ground out to second to end the threat and the game.

The Yankees are now on a six-game winning streak and will begin a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow night with CC Sabathia on the mound.  The Yankees have won eight of their last 10 games.

2 comments:

kongon said...

At least the pen kept the damage to a minimal.

If I only had one concern with the game is that they tend to have one good inning with plenty of runs, only not to score much else (if any) after that. They needed everything they could get.

Another solid game for Tex, offensively and defensively. He's heating up! The back-to-back dingers in the first recalls Murderers' Row of Ruth & Gehrig.

Andrew Fletcher said...

Agreed regarding the big inning and then not scoring after. They couldn't do anything against R.A. Dickey.

This is definitely the Tex they paid for. Hitting in front of A-Rod really has made a difference for now.

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