Austin Martin doubled and drove in four runs, Simeon Woods Richardson struck out a career-high 11 over six scoreless innings, and the Minnesota Twins pulled away for a 7-0 win over the New York Yankees on Monday night in Minneapolis.
Brooks Lee went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double and two RBIs for Minnesota (66-84) in the opener of a three-game set. Luke Keaschall also drove in a run.
Jose Caballero doubled for the Yankees’ only extra-base hit. Aaron Judge went 0-for-1 and drew three walks for New York (83-67), which collected only two hits and dropped five games behind the American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays (88-62),\.
New York also saw its AL wild-card lead cut to one game over the idle Boston Red Sox (82-68). The Houston Astros (81-69) hold the third and final spot, a game behind the Red Sox.
Woods Richardson (7-4) posted his best outing of the season. The right-hander gave up two hits and walked three while seeing his ERA drop from 4.58 to 4.31.
Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon (16-9) gave up two runs on five hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Twins relievers Kody Funderburk, Travis Adams and Pierson Ohl combined for three hitless innings.
Minnesota grabbed a 1-0 lead in third. Johnny Pereda hit a leadoff double to left, advanced to third on an infield single by Eduoard Julien and scored on a fielder’s choice by Martin.
The Twins increased their lead to 2-0 in the fifth. Lee tracked a 92-mph fastball on the first pitch of the inning and lifted it 355 feet over the wall in left for his 15th homer.
Minnesota erupted for five runs in the seventh. Trevor Larnach started the big inning with a double to right. Lee followed moments later with an RBI double.
The Twins loaded the bases with one out for Martin, who delivered a three-run double to left. The hit scored Lee, Julien and Byron Buxton and made it 6-0.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone brought in Camilo Doval to replace Luke Weaver, but the Twins weren’t finished. Keaschall hit an RBI single to score Martin for a 7-0 lead.
