With one swing of the bat, Isiah Kiner-Falefa changed the tone of the second game of the doubleheader between the Yankees and Minnesota Twins. Falefa got a hold of the first pitch he saw in the at-bat in the fourth inning and sent it over the left field wall for a grand slam to lead New York to a 7-1 win.
The victory helped the Yankees complete the doubleheader sweep of the Twins after Tuesday’s game between the two teams had been postponed due to inclement weather. The pair of wins were big for the Yankees with the Tampa Bay Rays picking up a 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night as well.
The Yankees had been down 1-0 when Kiner-Falefa stepped up to the plate. Gleyber Torres had walked to start the fourth and Oswaldo Cabrera, who was the hero in the first game, singled to reach base.
Marwin Gonzalez managed to draw a walk to load the bases to set up the go-ahead grand slam.
Yankees starter Gerrit Cole threw 6.2 innings in the win o Wednesday and struck out 14 batters while giving up one home run. The outing saw the Bombers’ starter throwing 118 pitches with 78 of them ending up being called strikes.
Cole struck five of six batters he faced in the fifth and sixth inning and picked up his 11th win of the year. Lucas Luetge came into the game in the seventh to finish out the night giving up three hits and striking out three while picking up his second save of the year.
The Yankees extended their lead in the bottom of the ninth when they put three more runs onto the board.
Aaron Hicks cleared the bases after the Twins walked three straight batters to load the bases. Hicks hit a line drive down the left field line to drive in the three and make it a 7-1 game.
The Twins had originally taken the lead in the top of the third after Cole struck out the first two batters he saw in the inning. The Yankees starter had worked the count into his favor after he got Carlos Correa to swing at a low pitch.
However, Correa got a hold of the 1-2 slider to send it into the left field stands. It was the second time in the day that Minnesota had jumped out to the lead first.
