NEW YORK – There were two unstoppable forces at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Royce Lewis, known for his flair for the dramatic, homered in his return after missing the last 58 games, and the New York Yankees continued their one-sided domination over the Twins.
Luis Gil, a former Twins farmhand traded in 2018, pitched six scoreless innings against his former organization and the Twins were handed a 5-1 loss. The Twins are winless in four games against the Yankees this season with a combined two runs.
Lewis, who turns 25 on Wednesday, has a knack for delivering when he returns to action. He homered in his first game last year after recovering from a torn ligament in his knee. He homered twice in his first two postseason at-bats after a stint on the injured list. Perhaps it was just living up to expectations when he blasted a solo homer to left field in the seventh inning against Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle. He's still batting 1.000 this year, drawing walks in his other two plate appearances.
For the Twins, there wasn't much offense outside of Lewis. Since 2002, the Twins have posted a 42-105 record against the Yankees, the most lopsided record between any two teams in that span.
The Twins traded Gil for outfielder Jake Cave ahead of the 2018 season. Gil was a 19-year-old who hadn't pitched at a level higher than the Dominican Summer League. Cave, who spent five seasons with the Twins but never played in more than 91 games, didn't have a spot on a crowded Yankees roster.
Typically, it's the type of trade that ends up as a footnote. The way Gil developed with the Yankees is turning it into a Twins regret. Gil was named the American League's Pitcher of the Month and Rookie of the Month for May.
The Twins totaled only one hit against Gil, a righthander who reached 99 mph with his fastball and struck out six. Christian Vázquez hit a one-out double off the wall in right field in the third inning, but he was stranded after Gil induced a groundout and struck out Carlos Correa on a called third strike.
Gil, who has yielded three earned runs in his last eight starts, lowered his ERA to 1.82. The Yankees deserve credit for developing Gil and keeping him as a starter after he dealt with an arm injury when he was in the Twins farm system and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022.
Bailey Ober permitted only three hits in five innings, but a couple of inches turned a potential scoreless outing into one where he gave up three runs.
BOXSCORE: New York Yankees 5, Twins 1
In the second inning, Ober watched a first-pitch cutter to Gleyber Torres fly to the first row of the short porch in right field. The ball deflected off a leaping Max Kepler's outstretched glove and it rolled into the stands for a 349-foot solo homer.
If the ball landed an inch or two further into Kepler's glove, the play ends up on the Twins' highlight reel. Instead, the Yankees had a 1-0 lead.
With one out and two runners on base in the third inning, Aaron Judge poked an elevated fastball off the end of his bat that landed on the chalk of the right-field line. Judge took a quick glance at his bat to check if it was broken before racing to second on his two-run double.
Ober walked a career-high four batters, including two in the fifth inning. Generally reserved on the mound, he didn't hide his displeasure when a slider that landed over the plate was called a ball to end his seven-pitch matchup with Judge, though he stranded two runners with a groundout afterward.
In the eighth inning, Twins lefty Caleb Thielbar surrendered a two-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton. The Twins have been outscored 19-2 in four games against the Yankees over the past month.
