Two innings later, after Schlittler gave way to Yerry de los Santos, the Twins struck. OK, the first two hits, a couple of well-placed ground balls by Buxton and Keaschall, didn’t leave the infield, but Clemens’ hit definitely did. He smacked the eighth pitch of his at-bat, a 3-2 high fastball, into the gap in right-center, and it rolled to the warning track, scoring the two baserunners. Royce Lewis followed with a two-out double that landed just inside the foul line in the left-field corner — Cuzzi territory, for you Twins history buffs, though this one was called correctly — and Clemens scored the Twins’ fourth run.
The Twins’ Kody Clemens slides into third base during the sixth inning Wednesday night. He hit a two-run double and then advanced on an error. (Yuki Iwamura/The Associated Press)
That was plenty of support for Ryan, who gave up only four hits. The final one was notable, though: A seventh-inning double by Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, the 16th consecutive game against the Twins in which he has collected a hit. That’s the longest hitting streak by a Yankee in the teams’ 64-year history of playing each other, surpassing names like Thurman Munson and Derek Jeter.
The game drew 44,466 to Yankee Stadium, an early-arriving throng in order to collect Aaron Judge bobbleheads. They had to wait through a rain delay of nearly two hours before first pitch, as did an army of Twin players’ families, here as part of the annual “Family Trip,” with wives and children invited to fly on the team charter and stay in the team hotel.
The late start meant that planeload figured to arrive home around 4 a.m. But given the outcome, it’s not likely any of the fathers, at least, minded the late hour.