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Yankees 0, Twins 7: Woods Richardson dominates Bombers in ugly opener

While the team has stayed afloat in a crowded AL playoff race, the month of September has revealed one truth: the Yankees’ bullpen is still a problem. Sure, they still would have lost Monday night’s game to the Twins even had they pitched perfectly—a career night from Simeon Woods Richardson set the tone for their first shutout at the hands of Minnesota since August 11, 2008. But the Yankee offense was afforded no real chance at a late comeback, as the bullpen came in to spoil another Carlos Rodón quality start. Luke Weaver surrendered five runs in the seventh to put this one to bed early—7-0 was your final score from Target Field.

The Twins got on the board in a laborious bottom of the third inning for Rodón. A leadoff double from catcher Jhonny Pereda set the table for Minnesota, then a nice defensive play from José Caballero was overturned to an infield hit after a review. Pereda took third and would subsequently score on a would-be double play ball from Austin Martin that the Twins center fielder beat out. Rodón escaped further trouble in the frame but had to throw 26 pitches to get through it.

In the meantime, Woods Richardson cruised through his first two turns through the Yankee lineup, racking up strikeouts on immaculately located pitches—some of which appeared to be below the zone, like his called third to Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the fourth which drew an incredulous reaction from the visiting dugout.

In the home fifth, Brooks Lee ambushed Rodón’s first-pitch fastball and lined it just over the left field wall for a solo homer to double Minnesota’s advantage. Things could have spiraled out of control from there as the Twins knocked a pair of one-out singles to threaten more scoring. Thankfully Rodón induced another double play ball from Martin, and the Yankee infield executed the twin killing on their second attempt.

It was safe to say Woods Richardson did not coast on favorable umpiring tonight. He allowed just two hits all night, and one of them was immediately erased when he picked off Caballero at second following a double. Later, after he walked Judge with one out (on a bad ball four call), he laid waste to Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton with consecutive strikeouts to reach eleven punched tickets on the night—easily a new career high for the right-hander. With that he completed six innings for just the second time all season, and six scoreless ones at that. The Yankee lineup simply had no answers for him.

Rodón made it through six innings himself, and once again limited opposing offenses to two runs or fewer, but just like last time out when the Yankee bullpen fouled things up when he left the game, Luke Weaver wasted little time growing the deficit. The Twins began with back-to-back doubles from Trevor Larnach and Lee, then loaded the bases with one out for Martin, who delivered a chalk-kissing, bases-clearing double to make it 6-0 Minnesota.

Weaver was replaced by Camilo Doval, who allowed Martin to trot home for good measure on a hit from Luke Keaschall. All five earned runs were charged to Weaver, who has now allowed 10 in his last six games. That Doval—one of their deadline reinforcements—has been relegated to late game mop-up duty is bad enough. Now that Weaver is misfiring, the bridge to the ninth inning may in fact be ricketier than it has ever been at any point in the season. The Yankee offense will have their off-nights but in balance we know them to be a good unit that will put runs on the board more often than not. There is no reason to place a similar amount of faith in the bullpen; just about every reliever sans David Bednar has had a blow-up appearance in recent weeks.

One lengthy fan interference review in the top of the eighth was the lone point of interest in a boring final few frames. No need to put lipstick on a pig with this one: the Yankees scored zero runs on two hits, striking out 14 times. The Twins cruised to their first shutout victory over the Yankees in 17 years, punctuated by a Paul Goldschmidt tapper back to the mound. At the same time, the Blue Jays defeated the Rays 2-1 in eleven innings, increasing their divisional lead to five full games. The Red Sox, enjoying a day off, crept a half-game closer.

Cam Schlittler will take the ball to try and take the bad taste of back-to-back losses out of the Yankees’ mouth. He’ll be opposed by Minnesota’s Zebby Matthews, with first pitch again scheduled for 7:40 PM EDT on YES.