The Minnesota Twins no doubt will be glad that they are batting last in this series against the Yankees. After losing three games in New York’s final at-bat at Yankee Stadium in mid-May – and four games by a combined five runs – the Twins at least can attempt a few walk-off wins of their own.
“I think we’re a different team than when we played them,” Twins catcher Joe Mauer said.
New York’s bullpen, however, has posted a 1.65 ERA in the past 20 games, the Yankees lead the majors with 25 comeback victories. After a 15-17 start, the Yanks are 33-17 in their past 50 games.
And the Bombers have opened as -131 money line favorites for tonight’s game on WagerWeb.com behind ace CC Sabathia (7-5, 3.85). Sabathia has a 1.24 ERA in winning his last four starts against Minnesota and is 12-8 with a 3.12 ERA in 27 career starts against the Twins. He is coming off a rare bad outing, however, allowing six runs in 5 2/3 innings to the Mariners.
Alex Rodriguez is hitting again for New York, batting .388 with five homers and 15 RBIs in his past 11 games.
The Twins counter with Scott Baker (6-6, 4.99 ERA). In June he was 4-0 with 3.20 ERA in six starts. Baker is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two career starts vs. New York, but he hasn’t faced them since 2006.
Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau is red hot and was named American League player of the week on Monday, after batting .480 (12-for-25) with four home runs and 26 total bases in six games. He is just 6-for-36 career against Sabathia.
With five plate appearances tonight, Twins catcher Joe Mauer finally would have enough plate appearances to qualify with the American League batting leaders. Mauer is batting .389. Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki entered Monday atop the AL leaderboard at .362.
A player needs 3.1 plate appearances per game played by his team, or 502 for the season, to qualify.
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