NEW YORK — Trent Grisham needed three pitches of his first Yankees at-bat in three weeks to change the sound of Yankee Stadium. Down 1-2 against Twins rookie Mike Paredes in the first inning Friday night, the center fielder worked the count full and launched a changeup into the second deck in right field.
The leadoff homer tied the game. A thunderstorm, a 53-minute delay and a stubborn ace kept it interesting. By the end, the Yankees had a 5-2 win over Minnesota in front of 45,104 on fireworks night in the Bronx.
The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak, the club’s longest since a nine-game slide in August 2023, and it was the Yankees’ first win since June 24. They had not scored five runs in any of their previous 12 games.
The formula was unusual. The two Yankees who missed the entire skid drove most of the offense. And the winning pitcher had to talk his manager out of removing him.
Grisham and Ryan McMahon, both activated from the injured list hours earlier, factored into four of the five Yankees runs, while Gerrit Cole fought Aaron Boone during the rain delay for the right to pitch a fifth inning.
Two returning bats carried the lineup
Grisham, back from a strained right hamstring after a single rehab game, finished with a homer, a single and a sacrifice fly.
His third-inning single set up the biggest swing of the night, when Ben Rice put the Yankees ahead by driving a full-count fastball from Paredes over the right-field wall for his 24th home run. Rice had gone 2-for-25 during the slide.
McMahon, back from a throat infection, doubled to open the seventh and scored on Jose Caballero‘s single. Caballero stole second, took third on an Austin Wells bunt and came home on Grisham’s sacrifice fly for a 5-2 Yankees lead. McMahon also battled through a nine-pitch walk and made the key defensive play of the night.
Boone had watched the Yankees lineup produce almost nothing for two weeks. Asked about Grisham’s first-inning shot, the Yankees manager reached for a familiar description.
Boone called it “a classic Grish at-bat.”
Grisham admitted the instant impact surprised even him after just one rehab game.
“It was like I never left,” Grisham said. “Which is surprising — I thought I was going to have to find it a little bit.”
Cole traded gas for guts through the storm
Cole gave up a first-inning homer to Kody Clemens on a curveball and an RBI single to Victor Caratini in the fourth, and nothing else. The right-hander struck out seven without a walk over five innings for his third win.
The delay should have ended his night. Rain stopped play after Cole struck out Brooks Lee to close the third, and 53 minutes passed before baseball resumed. Cole kept himself ready by throwing 8 to 15 pitches every 10 minutes, then convinced Boone to send him back out for the fifth.
Cole did not dress up what the night meant for a team stuck in the mud.
“We’re in a rut,” Cole said. “We needed this one today.”
The Yankees bullpen made the decision look smart. Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn retired all six men they faced with two strikeouts apiece. Fernando Cruz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth when Royce Lewis grounded to McMahon at third. David Bednar, back from the paternity list, struck out the side in the ninth for his 17th save.
A Yankees defense that fed 17 unearned runs into the losing streak did not allow a single one.
The Twins remain the Yankees’ favorite cure
The opponent helped. The Yankees improved to 112-44 against Minnesota since 2002, the best record by one team against another in the majors over that span, and 114-48 over their last 162 regular season meetings with the Twins.
The Yankees have also beaten Minnesota in 12 of the last 14 meetings. The Twins played a fourth straight game without Byron Buxton, who is dealing with right hip impingement, and Paredes took the loss after allowing three runs in four innings.
The win also flipped a troubling pitching split. Entering the night, Yankees starters had a 5.34 ERA since the club’s last victory on June 24, while the bullpen sat at 2.08. Cole, a perfect 5-0 with a 2.43 ERA against the Twins in his career, finally gave the rotation a night to build on.
One win down and a rookie gets the ball
The Yankees improved to 49-38 and now try to turn one win into a winning streak. Boone made clear how much the clean performance mattered after a brutal stretch.
“In what’s been a tough week for us, to be able to go out there and play a complete game,” Boone said. “That one feels good.”
Rice, whose homer stood as the game-winner, kept his read on the clubhouse simple.
“I think everyone was ready to turn the corner,” Rice said.
The follow-up test comes quickly. Rookie Brendan Beck makes his first major league start in Saturday’s holiday matinee against Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews, filling in for injured Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon with first pitch at 1:35 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium.
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