Yanks’ bats stall and the Twins take the first

It started off rocky, with starter Freddy Garcia giving up five straight hits at one point in the first inning, allowing two Minnesota runs to score before the Yankees had a chance to grab their bats. Things looked up when the Yankees took the lead in their half of the first thanks to back-to-back home runs by Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson and a run-scoring single by Mark Teixeira. Jeter’s homer was his third of the season, something he didn’t get last season until July. After an exciting first inning, the second, third, and fourth innings were pretty calm. Both pitchers settled down. Then, the top of the fifth happened.

With one out in the fifth, Garcia had retired 11 Twins batters in a row. Then, Alexi Casilla doubled. Freddy retired Denard Span, but then , Jamey Carroll singled Casilla home to tie the game at three. Joe Mauer followed with an RBI double, his second double of the game, and put the Twins on top 4-3. Justin Morneau added a homer of his own in the sixth, launching one into the Yankee bullpen. Boone Logan replaced Garcia later in the inning; he faced three lefty batters across his appearance and allowed two of them to reach. That’s frustrating. Minnesota added two insurance runs against Cory Wade, who surrendered four hits in 2.1 inning.

After the first, the Yankees just could’t string anything together against starter Carl Pavano, who struck out six while walking just one. The Yankees had a shot in sixth after Robinson Cano walked with one out. Mark Teixeira followed with a single to right. Nick Swisher went down on strikes (with one questionable strike call helping Pavano out, but that’s neither here nor there) and Raul Ibanez grounded out. The Yankees couldn’t do anything against either Minnesota reliever they faced.

The start of ths game looked promising for the Yankee bats, but they fell flat after the first inning. It happens and they’ve just got to shake it off and come out swinging tomorrow. They’ll face lefty Francisco Lirano, whom they haven’t hit all that well. To be fair, though, this isn’t the same ole Liriano.

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