By Carlos Martinez-Cabrera
April 14, 2023
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Quick Stats:
Winning Pitcher: Joe Ryan (3-0, 2.84 ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Jhony Brito (2-1, 6.75 ERA)
Save: N/A
Home Runs (New York): Rizzo (2 & 3)
Home Runs (Twins): Taylor (3 & 4), Julien (1), Correa (1)
Big Story: The Twins dominated from the beginning, thanks to a strong offensive performance in the first inning. In the top of the first inning, the Twins scored nine runs, including back-to-back-to-back home runs. The Twins continued to add to their lead, scoring two runs in the third inning. The Yankees were unable to mount a comeback, with their only runs coming from Rizzo's home runs in the fourth and ninth innings.
The Yankees only managed four hits in the game, including Anthony Rizzo hitting two solo home runs.
The loss also ended Aaron Judge's 45-game on-base streak.
Joe Ryan was the star of the game for the Twins, pitching six innings and striking out 10 batters while allowing only two runs. The Twins' bullpen also held the Yankees to one run for the final three innings of the game. Overall, the Twins' offense was too much for the Yankees to handle, with the Twins recording 13 hits and 11 runs.
Player(s) of the Game: Anthony Rizzo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Anthony Rizzo racked up two home runs which was the only offense the Yankees produced tonight. On the other hand, IKF was dealing after being brought out from the bullpen. IKF threw a 1-inning shutout while only allowing one hit. In a bittersweet moment, IKF even asked umpires to check his hands for "sticky stuff." Better to Forget: Jhony Brito - This is an incredibly unfortunate start for Brito to have. Brito allowed 7 earned runs while only pitching 0.2 of an inning which ended up giving him the loss. There is also room here to talk about the offense as the only source was Rizzo's two home runs.
My Take: It is hard to move on from such a devasting loss but that would be my advice to Jhony Brito. Brito has definitely shown how good he can be in his past outings but tonight was just not his night.
The offense was not there tonight as Joe Ryan was able to limit the Yankees to just one run while punching out 10 batters. The offense cannot keep going down this trend but I would not hit the panic button yet. The Yankees will just need to hit the reset button and get ready for tonight as they face the Twins at home again with a 7:05 start with the probable pitching match up being between Nestor Cortes and Louie Varland.
