Didi Gregorius got out of his collapse with a big blow and Masahiro Tanaka prevailed on the mound when the Yankees soared to lead a two-games-to-none lead in the A.L.D.S.
From 2016 to 2018, Didi Gregorius was the keystone of Yankees. He plays deftly in his short-term requirement position, improves his plate discipline and breaks at least 20 home runs per year, an important left-handed counterpart in the lineup heavy Yankees on right-handers.
This season,after all, is smooth for Gregorius. He missed the first two months after the surgery of Tommy John on the elbow thrown last fall, due to an injury he suffered during the end of last year. And when he returned in June, Gregorius could not regain his form before having surgery on either side of the ball. However, manager Aaron Boone was stuck with Gregorius even when he fell into the playoffs.
All of that felt like a distant memory on Saturday when tens of thousands of fans chanted “Di Di Di! Di-di!”, and he forced their request for a curtain call by pushing both arms into the air from the dugout steps. He just drove the Yankee Stadium crazy with a big competition, third-inning grand slam, helping the Yankees win 8-2 and firmly asserting that the Yankees bats could really be too much for with Minnesota Twins in this American League tournament series.
Photo from The New York Times
The best-of-five series will move to Minneapolis on Monday, with the Yankees one victory from winning a berth in the A.L. Championship Series. On the other hand, if the Twins were unable to neutralize even the Yankees‘ struggling hitters, they have little hope of extending their postseason.
Yankees hit a 12th consecutive play-off win against the Twins – the longest postseason streak by any team compared to any competitor in the history of major league.
Finding ways to prevent the Yankees‘ home run-blasting offense in their friendly stadium, Twins turned to the pitcher Randy Dobnak, who had skyrocketed all the major leagues from the low level of small league at the beginning of the season.
The captivating story of Dobnak
He was undrafted, played in an independent league, was an Uber driver this spring to supplement his income as a paid little leaguer, and skipped a few matches of Twins to get married in late September.
The Yankees did not abandon Dobnak, but they defeated him with hard-hit singles and doubles. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli hooked up Dobnak after the Yankees loaded the bases without any outs in the third inning and turned to Tyler Duffey, a reliable liberator during the regular season. However, Duffey was not much better against the well-known Yankees line-up, a squad that began to rush on the run.
The Yankees schedule
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