Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and a brilliant bullpen rescued New York from a rugged start and lifted the Yankees to their first postseason victory in five years.
Gregorius’ three-run homer tied the score after Minnesota chased Luis Severino in the first inning, a pumped-up Judge hit a two-run shot in his postseason debut and the Yankees beat the Twins 8-4 in the AL wild-card game.
Minnesota starter Ervin Santana blew a three-run lead in the first inning, and the New York Yankees piled on from there, giving the Twins a record-tying 13th consecutive playoff defeat with a 8-4 victory in the AL wild-card game. Minnesota matched the Boston Red Sox from 1986-95 for the worst postseason skid ever, with 10 of those losses coming to New York.
Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run and Eddie Rosario added a two-run shot that had the Twins up 3-0 after a half inning.
Twins speedster Byron Buxton was replaced in center field during the fourth inning because of tightness in his back. Zack Granite entered for Buxton to begin the bottom of the inning. Buxton grimaced in pain after crashing into the fence on a highlight-reel catch in the second.
The Yanks’ bullpen was terrific once Severino left. Chad Green worked out of the first-inning jam and struck out four over two frames. Winning pitcher David Robertson followed with 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and Tommy Kahnle (KAYN’-lee) worked 2 1/3 hitless innings before Aroldis Chapman struck out three in the ninth to close out the win.
The Yankees will head to Cleveland to take on the Indians in the division series.
