MN Sports Blog

Jason Kubel led the Twins to their first victory against the Yankees after losing the last ten regular season games against them. Kubel’s grand slam was just his third  homer of the year but gave the Twins enough of a cushion this time to hang on to the victory. The slam came against Mariano Rivera of all people who had successfully converted his last 51 save opportunities.

Jon Rauch tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the ninth giving up back-to-back singles but he managed to slam the door shut striking out Jeter, Gardner and Teixeira. The save was Rauch’s tenth of the season and helped lower his ERA to a very impressive 1.80.

This might help the Twins develop some amount of confidence whatsoever against the Yankees who have absolutely dominated them in the past few years. If the Twins turn out to be the contenders we hope they will be they’ll need to find some way to handle the American League East. Although this is the last trip of the regular season the Twins will make to Yankee Stadium they have another three game series against the Yanks starting May 25th at Target Field.

The next AL East test comes on Monday in Toronto as Kevin Slowey (4-3, 4.62 ERA) faces off against Dana Eveland (3-2, 4.81 ERA) and the Blue Jays.

Minnesota Sports Blog