2000 Yankees Diary, April 25: Twins again capitalize on Yanks’ missed opportunities

Twenty-five years ago today, the Bombers were in the midst of a minor skid following their mid-April eight-game winning streak. They had just begun their homestand with a loss to the Twins, and what followed was an even less inspiring performance. Given the Yanks’ future dominance of the Twins—which really began in force two years later—and Minnesota’s cellar-dwelling season (helping them land Joe Mauer), it was odd to see New York struggle in this scenario.

The Yankees were presented with plenty of chances in this series’ second game, but couldn’t muster much of anything of substance with the bats, ultimately dropping their second consecutive contest, and the fourth out of their last five games.

April 25: Yankees 1, Twins 6 (box score)

Record: 12-7 (T-1st in AL East)

The Bombers had their first opportunity in the bottom of the first, when Derek Jeter singled and stole second, before Bernie Williams walked, but they were unable to make anything of it. Despite the early traffic, things started out fairly quietly for Ramiro Mendoza and Twins righty Sean Bergman, with both starters keeping the game scoreless through the first two frames. Mendoza allowed a pair of runners to reach in the first, but escaped any damage, before a much cleaner second inning, which finished with a pair of swinging Ks

The Twins fired up the scoreboard first in this one in their half of the third. Todd Walker started the action when he turned on an 0-1 pitch and deposited it into the right-field seats. Two pitches later, former Yankees prospect Cristian Guzmán played some copycat and belted a homer of his own into right field. The pair of bombs from Minnesota’s double play combo had them up 2-0, and they largely wouldn’t look back from there.

Jacque Jones did his part for the Twins in this one as well, as he pitched in with RBI singles in both the fourth and sixth innings against Mendoza, the latter of which knocked the Yankees starter out of the game. After he was gone, a productive groundout from Torii Hunter tacked on another run to his resume, and gave the Twins a commanding 5-0 lead in this one.

The Yankees looked to be on the brink of some real offense in the seventh inning, when Scott Brosius walked and Wilson Delgado and Jim Leyritz followed with a pair of singles to load the bases with one out. Derek Jeter was able to manage a sacrifice fly before lefty Travis Miller struck out Paul O’Neill, marking their first and only tally in the run column. It was Brosius who crossed the plate on Jeter’s fly out; the third baseman was making his return in this game after an extended stay on the IL from a batting-practice-sustained rib injury in early April.

Only mustering a sac fly out of a bases-loaded situation was the theme of the game for the Yankees. Bergman, the Twins starter, allowed six walks and four hits, despite only allowing the one run in his 6.1 innings of work. The Yankees had a runner on in every inning but the ninth, but were only able to cash in on one of those opportunities against a man who would finish the season—his last in the majors—with -1.5 rWAR and a 9.66 ERA. After plenty of traffic, they faced Héctor Carrasco out of the Minnesota bullpen in the ninth, and he promptly struck out the Yankees’ 9-1-2 hitters in order, all swinging.

It was a second-straight loss for the Yankees, as their homestand and this three-game set against the Twins was off to a rather slow start. After eight consecutive wins, they had now lost four of their last five games, and were locked into a tie atop the American League East with the Orioles.

Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.