After their young ace Luis Severino got knocked out by the Twins in the first inning — giving up three runs on two homers by Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario, a double, walk and single while getting just one batter out — Girardi immediately went to his bullpen and brought in Chad Green, who proceeded to strike out the next two batters, leaving runners on second and third.
The Yankees offense went right out and got the three runs back in the last of the first on a three run homer by Didi Gregorius. They added a run in the bottom of the second on a homer by Brett Gardner, one pitch after he was knocked down by Ervin Santana.
Green went two innings, giving up just one run in the third and was replaced by David Robertson, who held the Twins scoreless for 3 1/3 innings while the Yankees were adding a run in the third on a double by Gary Sanchez and a run scoring single by Greg Bird. Then, in the fourth, Aaron Judge blasted a homer with Gardner aboard and it was 7-3.
After Robertson finished his stint, Tommy Kahnle, picked up with Robertson and Todd Frazier from the White Sox in July, shut the Twins down through the eighth and Aroldis Chapman did his thing in the ninth, striking out the side while giving up just a single on 20 pitches, 17 of them over 100 miles per hour.
With 8 2/3 five hit, one run relief innings and three home runs, in a come-from-behind win, the Yankees certainly served notice that the rebuilding year was over and they had come to play. They led the league in homers with 241, were second in runs scored with 858, had the third best bullpen ERA at 3.34 and the fifth best staff ERA in all of baseball at 3.72.
The Cleveland Indians, who won 102 games, the most in the American League and who had the best bullpen ERA in baseball at 2.89, the best staff ERA in all of baseball at 3.30 and the second best batting average in the American League at .263, will be a tough team for the Yankees to get by, in their series starting tonight. But Joe Girardi and company have put them, the American League and all of baseball on notice that they are for real.
What a start for the 2017 playoffs!
— Carl Johnson writes a weekly baseball column — Baseball World — for the Journal Tribune which runs each Sunday.
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