Starter Samuel Deduno held the Yankees to one run over seven complete innings as Minnesota ended all kinds of bad luck at Yankee Stadium, beating New York 4-1 Saturday afternoon.
The Twins also used the long ball to stop a skid that included 11 losses in 12 games and 21 losses in 26 games in the Bronx. Trevor Plouffe, Ryan Doumit and Pedro Florimon all hit home runs.
But the game wasn’t pretty, as Manager Ron Gardenhire, despite grumblings about his job status, was ejected in the 7th inning for arguing an interference call on Clete Thomas.
Deduno, as is his wont, pitched an unpredictable showcase, going a full seven innings while giving up six hits, walking three and striking out three to raise his record to 5-4 and lower his ERA to 3.61.
The Yankees scored first in a predictable fashion, with Robinson Cano singling in Ichiro Suzuki in the 1st inning, but after that, Deduno shut down the bombers. “We’re gonna try to make him the MVP this year,” Gardenhire said after the game of Cano. But Cano, a Twin Killer, was hotless for the rest of the game.
“The starting pitcher was fantastic,” Gardenhire told Fox Sports North. “He used all his pitches. His ball moves all over the place.”
Plouffe tied the game with a shot into the Twins’ bullpen in the 2nd inning, Ryan Doumit provided the go-ahead run with a line-drive homer into the right-field stands in the seventh inning, and Pedro Florimon gave the Twins some insurance with a two-run dinger in the eighth. All were off start Phil Hughes, who dropped to 4-9 on the season.
Casey Fein pitched a scoreless 8th inning, while Glen Perkins picked up his 21st save before readying for his first All-Star game Tuesday.
Ah, but first he may get another save opportunity, as the three-game series has a rubber match Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
