At the outset of this series, Aaron Boone came to the defense of his lineup.
Coming off a sluggish series against the Astros, the Yankees manager was asked about a number of struggling hitters.
“Frankly, the offense is the least of our concerns. You’re going to have [bad] stretches, that’s the nature of offense,” Boone said. “We got a couple of guys struggling right now, but I think we have a handful of guys that are really swinging the bats well. I fully expect our offense to be one of our calling cards and something that should carry us.”
His hitters have backed him up with their bats over the past two nights.
Against the trade deadline-ravaged Twins, they followed up a strong series opener with three more home runs in a second straight one-sided win over Minnesota, this one 9-1 in front of 37,552 in The Bronx.
Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton went deep in the same game for the first time since July 8, Anthony Volpe added a three-run shot and Carlos Rodón escaped early trouble to turn in seven quality innings of one-hit, one-run ball.
The Yankees won consecutive games for the first time since taking three in a row over the Rays from July 29-31. That was also their most recent series victory.
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Judge’s 425-foot, first-inning homer marked his first long ball since July 23, before he went on the injured list with a right elbow flexor strain. Stanton, meanwhile, has been hot for a while. He has hit safely in 14 of his past 16 games and has upped his OPS to a stellar .962 after his first four-hit game in nearly two years. Stanton has also done it while playing in the outfield for the first time since 2023, due to Judge’s injury. When the two sluggers homer in the same game, the Yankees are 47-7.
“Ever since he’s come back, he’s just been dialed in,” Judge said of Stanton.
Stanton, who has 12 homers in 42 games, added: “I feel good. Putting together good at-bats, the timing’s there, so just got to take advantage of mistakes.”
At the outset, it looked like the Yankees could have rare trouble with the Twins, their personal version of the Washington Generals. Rodón allowed the first three batters to reach on a single, a walk and a hit batsman. He fought through it, striking out Luke Keaschall to record his first out on his 23rd pitch. He nearly got out of the inning without allowing a run, but Royce Lewis narrowly beat out a potential double play. Rodón kept it at one run by striking out Kody Clemens.
“It’s one of those, is he going to get out of the first inning, that’s where your mind is for a minute,” Boone said.
He later added: “I thought he looked a lot different really in the second inning.”
The Yankees didn’t trail for long. Judge went deep with one out in the first for his 38th of the season, and Volpe’s three-run shot in the second staked the Yankees to a three-run lead. Minnesota starter Travis Adams faced 22 hitters and retired only seven of them.
Rodón, meanwhile, settled down. At one point, he retired 17 in a row. He struck out five and walked two while throwing 96 pitches in seven innings — the first Yankees starter to complete seven innings since Rodón himself back on July 11, when he went eight innings against the Cubs.
By then, the Yankees were on their way to yet another win over the Twins, improving to an absurd 125-44 against them dating back to 2002.
“A solid two games,” Stanton said. “A sweep would be even better.”