Recap: Yankees Fail to Sweep Twins in Stinker

It happened again. The Yankees traversed the .500 mark on Saturday, getting over that hump once more. And then on Sunday they failed to make their three-game win streak mean anything. The one-step-forward, two-step-back routine continued in an ugly 7-1 loss to the Twins.

With a chance to get two games over .500 for just the second time this year, and show real signs of progress, the Yankees had one of their worst games of the season. The previously lifeless Minnesota lineup tattooed Yankee pitching to the tune of six home runs, including back-to-back-to-back shots off Nathan Eovaldi. And Tyler Duffey, who was in danger of losing his rotation spot, held the Yankees to two hits.

With a four-game set against the A.L.-leading Texas Rangers starting Monday, this is a game the Yanks would like to have back.

At times this year, Eovaldi has looked excellent, displaying the potential the Yankees saw when they traded for him before the 2015 season. But lately, Eovaldi has fallen back to earth, looking more like the pitcher that was routinely pounded in the first half of last season. Today was a microcosm of his Yankee career.

Through five, Eovaldi was cruising, having allowed just one run (a homer to Danny Santana) and three baserunners. The walls caved in, in the sixth. It started with a two-out walk to Joe Mauer, and like the old adage says, it came back to bite him. Brian Dozier lined a homer to left to extend Minnesota’s lead to 3-0. The next batter was Trevor Plouffe who deposited another one in the left field seats. Eovaldi was shaken up and clearly had lost his focus. Two pitches later, Max Kepler took him deep once again, giving the Twins a 5-0 lead.

Eovaldi’s Jekyll and Hyde act was on full display. What started out looking like the bounce back he so desperately needed, Eovaldi was knocked around for five runs on six hits (four homers), to go along with three walks and four strikeouts in six innings. Eovaldi’s ERA is now 5.19. He entered June with a 3.71 ERA.

Eduardo Nunez and Juan Centeno homered off of newly-recalled Luis Cessa and Kirby Yates, respectively. That marked six long balls on the day for the Twins, the first time the Yankees have allowed that many in a game since 2012.

The Twins could have hit six more home runs and it wouldn’t have mattered. Tyler Duffey simply flummoxed the Yankees all afternoon despite entering the game with a 9.82 ERA in June. He had allowed at least four runs in his four starts this month.

On Sunday, though, Duffey was perfect through 5.2 innings until Aaron Hicks broke through with a double. They had one other hit all afternoon. If you’re looking for a silver lining, it came off the bat of Mark Teixeira in the eighth, putting the Yankees on the board with his first home run since April 13.

The Yankees will try to put this loss behind them on Monday in a 7:05 PM game at the Stadium against Texas. The struggling Ivan Nova (5-5, 5.18 ERA) will get the ball for the Yanks. The Rangers will counter with Chi Chi Gonzalez (3-6, 5.04 ERA at AAA Round Rock), who will be making his 2016 debut.

Notes

• The four homers allowed by Nathan Eovaldi pushes his season total to 17, which is already a career-high.
• Each of the homers Eovaldi allowed came on a different pitch: fastball, splitter, slider, curve.
• Every Yankee in the lineup, with the exception of Aaron Hicks, struck out once.