NEW YORK — You can't blame Rocco Baldelli for trying something different. The Twins' long and ignominious history at Yankee Stadium has stained the franchise for years, so why not enlist some innocents for the challenge?
Or maybe the manager was just out of options.
Short on rested arms, the Twins handed an opportunity Thursday to three pitchers who were not even on the roster two months ago, let alone who suffered through any of the team's 2-17 horror show (including playoffs) in this park over the past seven years. And the result — a pro-forma 7-5 loss to the Yankees, who have won seven consecutive games to charge into the AL wild-card lead — was sort of … encouraging?
Well, that's probably too strong a word. But Baldelli was notably upbeat about the loss, given the Twins' early 6-0 deficit and entrusting the pitching to three baseball nomads and journeymen.
"We battled back. We put some runs on the board. Had a few good at-bats," Baldelli said earnestly. "Honestly, by the last couple innings, we were an at-bat and a swing away from tying the ballgame and maybe even winning a ballgame like that."
OK, the Twins have made a habit lately of winning games against expectations. And they had a couple of bright spots, too, most notably Jake Cave's first career home run against the team that drafted and developed and traded him, Miguel Sano's home run for his newborn daughter, and Jorge Polanco's nonstop clutch hitting, which produced runs for the sixth consecutive game, three of them this time. So maybe there is an oasis to be found this weekend in the Bronx, the Twins' baseball desert.
"We're catching these guys at a time where they're pretty hot, but so are we. We're going to give them everything we have and see what happens," Baldelli said. "I like what I've seen from our guys lately, that's for sure."
John Gant, who has hoped to escape the bullpen and rejoin a rotation, had two good innings as an audition, then surrendered two doubles and a triple in a four-run third.
"They just strung some hits together, plain and simply. Just played a little baseball out there," Gant said. "[I] felt good about my stuff, felt like I attacked batters pretty well. … Good bat-to-ball team over there. Hats off to them."
BOXSCORE: NY Yankees 7, Twins 5
When Gant was lifted, Danny Coulombe, who hadn't appeared in a Twins loss since Aug. 1, gave up a two-run home run to Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka.
And Andrew Albers, almost five years after his last appearance as a Twin, returned for a third stint with the organization that first made him a big-leaguer. Considering he holds the Twins' record for most shutout innings to start his career, the guy knows how to make an entrance.
"He missed some bats. He did all the things you really want to see. Didn't even use all the pitches we knew he's capable of throwing," Baldelli said. "You're talking about almost a flawless outing, really."
Well, with one minor discrepancy: Giancarlo Stanton's opposite-field home run in the eighth inning.
"Yeah, that was a tough one," Albers said of Stanton's 20th home run of the season. "I thought I made a decent pitch, it was up a little bit. I was kind of hoping it was low enough to stay in. Everyone kind of knows that Yankee Stadium is a little short out there. I was just upset with myself that I didn't at least make him use the biggest part of the yard and hit one of those moonshots that he is so famous for. I would have felt a little bit better about that, actually."
