MINNEAPOLIS — He'd never admit it, ballplayers almost never do. And Gio Urshela knows the code.
But beating the Yankees, the team that decided he was expendable last March — that had to feel good, right?
Sweet or not, Urshela got a little revenge on Wednesday, driving home one run and scoring another in the Twins' unlikely 8-1 victory over their biggest nemesis.
Any Twins win over the Yankees is pretty unlikely, given their 38-16 record over the past decade. In fact, this one was the second-most lopsided Twins' win of the 21st century, topped only by a 10-1 drubbing in 2015.
But the details of this game were unexpected, too. Like, what chance did the Twins have against the most effective left-hander in baseball so far this season?
Turns out, more than you'd think. Nestor Cortes, whose ERA this season stood at an MLB-best 1.50 before the game, tacked on almost another half-run in a crazy before-and-after outing. The left-hander retired the first nine hitters he faced in order, then surrendered hits to seven of the next 10, the last one a Byron Buxton home run over the center-field wall.
It was the second straight night that Minnesota hitters knocked out a reputable Yankees starter in the fifth inning, following their four-run effort against Jameson Taillon one night earlier. This time, though, the Twins backed up their lineup with some effective pitching.
Even if it sometimes didn't look like it. Chris Archer dealt with five Yankees on base — four walks and an error — before allowing his first hit. But the veteran right-hander gave up only two, and just one run, in five innings, enough to earn his first victory as a Twin in his 11th start.
Griffin Jax took over and faced only six batters in his two scoreless innings. The lone batter to reach base was former Twin Aaron Hicks, and Jax did his best to prevent it, diving for a chopper up the first base line, then awkwardly tossing it to first baseman Jose Miranda to beat Hicks. But replay couldn't determine whether Miranda was touching the base when Jax's throw arrived, and Hicks was ruled safe — only to be erased by a double play moments later.
Emilio Pagan and Caleb Thielbar, in their first action since leaving the team for last weekend's series in Toronto, each pitched an inning of relief, too.
But it was the hitters who ruled the night for the Twins. Besides his home run, Buxton had a single and a walk. Carlos Correa, in his first action since coming off the COVID list, singled and walked as well, scoring each time. Miranda had three hits, driving in three runs. Trevor Larnach contributed a pinch-hit RBI double, and Ryan Jeffers snapped an 0-for-21 skid with an upper-deck home run off Cortes.
But it was Urshela, traded along with Gary Sanchez to the Twins in the Josh Donaldson/Isiah Kiner-Falefa deal in March, who seemed to be in the middle of most rallies. Meanwhile Donaldson went 1 for 3 and hit into a double play, while Kiner-Falefa went 0 for 3 and committed an error.
Speaking of defensive misplays, the Twins were aided by the fielding problems of Giancarlo Stanton, normally the Yankees' designated hitter, in right field. Stanton twice pulled up on Urshela's long fly balls to the right-field wall, each of them arguably catchable. And when Miranda lofted a high pop fly down the right-field line, Stanton dove for the ball — and missed it, for a double.
