Twins fall apart in 6th against Yankees

Published 9:13 am Monday, July 27, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS — A day filled with stress finally caught up with Kyle Gibson.

After five innings of pitching out of trouble, Gibson gave up five runs in the sixth as the New York Yankees topped the Minnesota Twins 7-2 on Sunday.

Gibson (8-8) had held the Yankees to just one run, coming on Chase Headley’s solo homer leading off the fifth. But he allowed New York’s leadoff man to reach four times in six innings, and it all fell apart for him in the sixth, which included three hits and two walks.

Email newsletter signup

“It takes a toll on you when you’re constantly battling against jams, even if they’re mini-jams,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “The first three innings he got out, but at all times they were threats.”

After Brett Gardner’s leadoff single in the sixth, Gibson walked Mark Teixeira on four pitches. He then fell behind Brian McCann 3-0 before eventually walking him to set the stage for New York’s big inning.

“I felt good until that sixth inning,” Gibson said. “It’s unfortunate that I kind of lost it there for three hitters, especially in row. It turned what I felt like was going to be a pretty decent day into a sour day.”

The Twins’ hitters couldn’t do much with Nathan Eovaldi (10-2), who had only five strikeouts but looked dominant nonetheless. He easily topped 90 mph in the later innings and induced Twins batters into harmless grounders and popups in reaching double-digit wins for the first time.

Stephen Drew hit a two-run homer off Twins reliever Ryan O’Rourke in the sixth.

After being outscored 15-1 in the first 12 innings of the three-game series, the Yankees returned the favor by outscoring the Twins 15-2 over the final 15. The Twins looked flat on Sunday after allowing the Yankees to come back from a 5-0 deficit to win it in the ninth the night before.