NEW YORK — Forced to gamble, Minnesota manager Paul Molitor put all the gloves in the right places.

The Twins’ strategy was solid. Their fielding wasn’t.

Chase Headley hit a bases-loaded grounder in the 10th inning that Minnesota’s five-man infield bobbled, and the New York Yankees, after losing starting pitcher Bryan Mitchell to a line drive to the face, beat the Twins 8-7 Monday night.

Eduardo Nunez, who hit the ball that gave Mitchell a nasal fracture, fumbled the game-ending bouncer.

“You take a chance there and try to plug the gap,” Molitor said. “We got the groundball.”

Once the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs in the 10th, Molitor took out right fielder Torii Hunter and brought in Eduardo Escobar as an extra infielder. Nunez shifted over from shortstop to up the middle.

Headley hit a hard grounder directly at Nunez. He dropped the ball and, having no shot for a forceout at the plate, still tossed the ball over to first for a meaningless out.

Nunez “got a little bit of an in-between hop,” Molitor said. “There’s no point in throwing the ball to first base. Just kind of a reactionary thing.”

Molitor had successfully used a five-man infield earlier in the season. This time, he got the right situation, just the wrong outcome.

The Twins, contending for a wild card, lost to begin a 10-game trip that also will take them to Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

Rookie Miguel Sano, Trevor Plouffe and Aaron Hicks homered for Minnesota. Brian Dozier singled his first three times up, and then struck out after a long foul that umpires reviewed to be sure it wasn’t a home run.

Brian McCann homered, drove in five runs and sliced a double off left fielder Eddie Rosario’s glove in the 10th that set up the winning misplay. The catcher also threw out three runners trying to steal.

Yankees rookie Greg Bird doubled off Glen Perkins (1-4) to open the 10th.

Andrew Miller (1-2) got the victory as AL East-leading New York started a season-high 10-game homestand with its third win in four games.

Knocked to the ground, Mitchell left with a towel over his bloody face. He was taken to a hospital, checked and was back in the clubhouse by the end of the game.

The Yankees will monitor the 24-year-old rookie, who made his third big league start, for the possibility of concussion symptoms.

“I get goosebumps talking about it,” Molitor said. “You’re playing the game, and then you see someone go through something like that.”

“I know they’ve talked about trying to find that protective cap for pitchers. They haven’t come up with anything that looks very practical as of yet. The face is pretty much something that’s going to be unprotected, no matter what you do,” he said.

Carlos Beltran hit a tying two-run homer for the Yankees in the sixth. New York loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but reliever Casey Fien got McCann on a popup and fanned Beltran.

UP NEXT

Twins: RHP Mike Pelfrey (6-7, 3.70 ERA) had gone 10 starts without a win before beating Texas in his last outing. A former mainstay in the Mets’ rotation, this will be his first start vs. the Yankees since 2011.

Yankees: LHP CC Sabathia (4-9, 5.23 ERA) starts a day after TMZ posted video of him getting into a verbal altercation with hecklers outside a nightclub in Toronto over the weekend. He certainly has throttled Joe Mauer — the Twins star is just 8 for 47 (.170) vs. the big lefty and has struck out 19 times.

NUMBERS GAME

Minnesota has lost seven of its last eight road games. … The Twins finished with 16 hits, their most in the Bronx since getting 20 in 2002. … Minnesota has 12 home runs in its last six games.