St. Paul native Louie Varland made a successful major league debut on Wednesday afternoon but a late-inning collapse led the Minnesota Twins to a 5-4 loss in 12 innings to the New York Yankees.
Varland was called up to start the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader and had plenty of support. His family made the trip out to Yankee Stadium to see his debut while his Concordia St. Paul teammates gathered to watch the game back home as Varland showed why he has made a rapid rise through the Twins’ system after starting the year at Double-A Wichita.
Gotta love moments like this.
Louie Varland's family was fired up for his first career strikeout. pic.twitter.com/Xk1Wn9zM1e
— MLB (@MLB) September 7, 2022
The team is locked in watching their alum @LouieVarland pitch. @BallySportsNOR pic.twitter.com/1CiSvzNVBL
— Golden Bears Baseball (@CSPBearsBase) September 7, 2022
Varland was effective in his debut, allowing two runs, three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts over 5.1 innings. Jose Miranda supported the rookie with a two-run homer in the top of the first and Gilberto Celestino delivered an RBI single in the fourth to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead.
Although Aaron Judge chipped into the lead with his 55th home run of the season, Varland left the game in line for his first major league win until Gleyber Torres smacked a two-run homer in the sixth to tie the game at 3-3.
The game eventually went to extra innings where the Twins used a familiar script against the Yankees. Celestino was sent home on a 10th inning single by Luis Arraez and was out by a mile. Celestino gave the Twins the lead with an RBI single in the top of the 12th and it took two pitches for Isiah Kiner-Falefa to tie it in the bottom half of the inning.
With the game deadlocked at 4-4, Trevor Megill served up the game-winning single to Oswaldo Cabrera to drop the opening game of the doubleheader.
The Twins won’t have time to shake off their latest loss in the Bronx as Joe Ryan will face Gerrit Cole in Tuesday’s nightcap.
