Aaron Hicks ends wild Yankees-Twins game with catch of the year candidate
MINNEAPOLIS — One late rally just wasn’t enough.
On a wild Tuesday night at Target Field, the New York Yankees required a string of comebacks to finally subdue the Minnesota Twins.
Shortly after Didi Gregorius capped a sensational 5-for-5, seven-RBI night with a base hit, Gleyber Torres drove him home with a go-ahead single during a two-run 10th inning.
Entering with two out and the bases loaded, Chad Green finally secured a 14-12 Yankees win that was unlike any of their previous 64 victories this year.
Of course it ended with an incredible, game-saving catch by Aaron Hicks — laying out with a dive at the warning track.
If this game were played in October, it would be replayed over and over.
At one point, the Yankees trailed the Twins by six runs.
Down to their last strike in the ninth, Mike Tauchman kept hope alive with a two-out walk and Hicks followed with a two-run homer that put the Yankees ahead 12-11 in a crazy slugfest between the AL’s two most power-laden lineups.
But to start the Twins' ninth, Aroldis Chapman lost the strike zone but didn’t lose the game.
After loading the bases to open the inning, Chapman yielded just a game-tying sacrifice fly to Eddie Rosario.
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Players on both teams were bouncing along the dugout railings and madly celebrating each comeback, making it feel more like mid-October than late July.
But the Twins' loss emphasized their desperate need for a relief pitching.
And neither club was thrilled by plate umpire Ramon DeJesus’ strike zone, though it was Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and later his hitting coach, James Rowson, who wound up getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes.
Gregorius' two-run double put the Yankees (65-35) ahead to cap a sensational, five-run eighth inning.
But that one-run edge against the Twins (61-39) was short-lived.
Miguel Sano’s second home run of the night was a monstrous, two-run shot off Zack Britton in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Twins an 11-10 lead.
That eighth inning might have been costlier for the Yankees, as Gary Sanchez exited a tough 0-for-5 night after trying to beat out a single; he appeared to injure himself running down the line and was replaced by catcher Austin Romine. After the game, manager Aaron Boone said Sanchez might have to go on the IL due a groin injury.
Romine's 10th inning single pushed Gregorius into scoring position and Romine scored the second run on a wild pitch.