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Yanks can’t overcome Burnett’s bad night
MINNEAPOLIS — As he walked off the mound following another rough outing Saturday, right-hander A.J. Burnett was clearly upset about being taken out. So upset, in fact, that he appeared to have some choice words for Yankees manager Joe Girardi as he walked away.
According to Burnett and Girardi, though, what appeared to happen was not what actually occurred when Girardi removed Burnett after only five outs in the Yankees’ 9-4 loss to the Twins.
Burnett acknowledged that he did say something as he walked away, but it was directed to catcher Russell Martin.
And Girardi said he went into the tunnel after Burnett did in order to take a second look at Burnett’s last pitch to Joe Mauer. Burnett said his remark had to do with that pitch as well.
“Everyone always seems to want to blow up about A.J.,” Girardi said. “Nothing happened between me and A.J. I went and looked at the pitch. And I’m tired of it. I’m tired of people looking for something between me and A.J.”
Said Burnett: “I told [Girardi], ‘Not you.’ Russ came out, he said, ‘That’s a strike.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s …’ No, I was not talking to Joe, absolutely not. No matter how mad I get, that guy’s taken my back every day I’ve been here.”
The situation between Burnett and Girardi almost overshadowed the fact that Burnett lasted just 1 2/3 innings on the night, giving up seven runs on five hits and three walks with a strikeout.
It was Burnett’s shortest start since he threw just one inning on June 30, 2004, at Atlanta while a member of the Marlins. His 61 pitches thrown also were his fewest since Sept. 27, 2010, at Toronto, when he tossed 48.
Burnett’s outing was the shortest for a Yankees starter since Tim Redding went just one inning on July 15, 2005, at Boston, and the shortest for the Yankees against the Twins since Mike Witt recorded only one out on June 13, 1991.
“Yeah, it’s upsetting, it’s frustrating,” Burnett said. “You want to come out and set the tone as a starter. Obviously, I didn’t do that, but I will be better. I know that.”
It started with Burnett giving up two runs on a pair of doubles in the first inning, and it only got worse from there for the Yankees. Twins third baseman Danny Valencia homered to lead off a five-run second inning that also featured a double, two singles and four walks.
After issuing his third walk of the inning, Burnett was relieved by Luis Ayala. While he had managed a win in his last start, Burnett has given up 61 hits and 38 earned runs in 49 1/3 innings over his last nine starts, for a 1-3 record and 6.93 ERA
“We need this guy to pitch, that’s the bottom line,” Girardi said. “We need him to pitch like he’s capable of pitching. He has struggled, his last few starts he has struggled. We’ve got to get him back on track.”
It was 4-0 when Burnett left the game, but a walk and a single allowed by Ayala resulted in three Twins runs. Ayala also pitched the third inning, finishing with two hits and one walk allowed over 1 1/3 innings pitched.
Eduardo Nunez scored the Yankees’ first run of the game in the third inning, doubling with one out and later coming around to score on a single and a throwing error. Curtis Granderson drove in Brett Gardner for another in the eighth, his 97th RBI of the season, and Francisco Cervelli followed with a single to drive in Jorge Posada.
Andruw Jones hit his ninth homer of the season with one out in the ninth inning to close out the Yankees’ scoring.
Lefty Aaron Laffey made his Yankees debut in the fourth, and he tossed three innings while allowing two runs on five hits and two walks, with two strikeouts.
Twins left-hander Francisco Liriano struggled in the third inning, but was otherwise in control most of the night. He went seven innings, allowing just one unearned run on three hits and three walks. Liriano also struck out six batters.
For Liriano, it was his first career win against the Yankees, as the Twins snapped their three-game losing streak against New York. Their nine runs were the most the Twins have scored against the Yankees since June 5, 2005.
“It’s kind of a long, overdue feeling,” Valencia said of the win. “We’ve played these guys tough, but at the same time we’ve come up empty-handed a bunch. So it’s nice to come out and win, and win kind of big.
“The Yankees score a lot of runs, you have to score a bunch of runs to beat them.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Longoria leads Rays’ power surge vs. Twins
MINNEAPOLIS — All series, Evan Longoria kept hitting the ball hard, but right at someone.
When the hits finally started falling Wednesday afternoon — especially in key late-game situations — it made a big difference for Longoria and the Rays.
After scoring only two runs in the first two games of the series, the Rays put a dozen across in the finale against the Twins, including a four-run eighth inning and a three-run ninth for a 12-5 victory.
“We’ve been battling so far on this road trip,” Longoria said, “and to be able to come through with a hit like that — [which] kind of opened up the floodgates a little bit for us — it’s a pretty good feeling.”
Longoria singled to left in the eighth off Minnesota reliever Alex Burnett, driving in the go-ahead run for Tampa Bay. As if that wasn’t enough, he added a three-run home run in the ninth for good measure — his 11th of the season.
After picking up just three hits, one home run and four RBIs while batting .115 in his previous seven games, Longoria matched those hit, home run and RBI totals in the series finale against the Twins.
His reward for his performance? Sitting out the bottom of the ninth to rest his sore left foot as the Rays closed out the game.
“If he had not hit that home run, he would’ve had to go out in the ninth inning,” manager Joe Maddon said. “But he hit the home run and I got him off his feet.
“I kind of discussed it with him. I didn’t say, ‘If you hit a home run you’re coming out of the game,’ but it kind of worked out that way.”
Rays catcher Kelly Shoppach got the offense going with a two-run homer in the second, and second baseman Sean Rodriguez added another two-run blast in the eighth. Then, Longoria capped the scoring with his ninth-inning blast.
Between the first two home runs, Tampa Bay put two across in the fourth on two hits, two walks and a hit batter. It added another run in the fifth with a walk and two singles that knocked Twins starter Francisco Liriano out of the game.
Liriano went just 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on six hits, four walks, three hit batters and four strikeouts.
“He had no command of his fastball, none,” Maddon said of Liriano. “If we had just taken [pitches], we would’ve had a lot of walks, because we were chasing outside the zone. He was not attacking the zone at all.”
Rays leadoff hitter Johnny Damon was hit twice by Liriano — the second knocking him out of the game with a contusion on his left hand. Sam Fuld replaced Damon, going 2-for-3 with a walk.
X-rays on Damon’s hand came back negative, and he is considered day-to-day.
The 12 runs marked the fourth time this season Tampa Bay had reached double digits offensively, and the second time this year in six games at Target Field. Thanks to the breakout performance by the offense, the Rays overcame a less-than-stellar start by right-hander Wade Davis.
“I thought that it was probably some of the worst stuff that I’ve had all year,” Davis said. “But I battled through it … and it’s a good win for us.”
Davis went five innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walks. He struck out just one batter.
In the crucial eighth inning, Fuld singled with one out and Ben Zobrist followed with a walk. Longoria then plated the go-ahead run with a single, and a safety squeeze scored Zobrist on a bunt by B.J. Upton.
Rodriguez made it a four-run game with his fourth home run of the season. All four runs in the eighth were allowed by reliever Alex Burnett, who took the loss.
“They have some really good hitters. They can do a lot of things,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. “They can handle the bat and they have a couple guys who can pop it.”
After going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position during the first two games of the series, the Rays were 7-for-14 in those situations Wednesday.
Even with all the offense, though, Maddon was not satisfied with his team’s performance.
“You cannot let those opportunities slip,” Maddon said. “We made a lot of subtle mistakes today that we’ve got to do better with if we expect to go back [to the playoffs] — which we do. We were fortunate to get by today.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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