Yankees end 10-inning drama with walk-off ... groundout

NEW YORK – Glen Perkins threw a slider in the 10th inning Monday that Chase Headley pounded hard into the ground, and the Twins reliever began to think he had a real chance to wiggle out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam.

"I thought it was a double play," Perkins said.

The ball was hit right to Eduardo Nunez, who was playing in at short.

"The pitcher do his job," Nunez said. "I'm supposed to do my job."

That's not what happened.

Nunez booted it. Then he recovered the ball and, inexplicably, threw to first for the out. But rookie Greg Bird scored the winning run on the play as the Yankees beat the Twins 8-7. It was a walk-off groundout.

You can't make this up.

Nunez, who said he just reacted after booting the grounder, slowly walked off the field. Perkins kneeled in front of mound, like he was still waiting for a throw home. It was a kidney punch to a Twins team that trailed 3-0 and 5-4 but came back each time to take the lead. Starter Kyle Gibson wobbled throughout his outing but figured out a way to pitch into the sixth inning. Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario, in their Bronx debuts, reveled in the spotlight. Casey Fien stormed off the mound at the end of the seventh and eighth innings screaming at himself after keeping the Yankees off the board.

The Twins threw everything at the Yankees, and it wasn't enough.

"It was a draining game," manager Paul Molitor of the 4-hour, 13-minute slog, the Twins' longest game of the year. "I think the players will feel drained, but that's a good thing. We had opportunities there. But you're at the stage of the season where your only option is to try to move ahead."

The game had everything. There were five home runs, three replay reviews, six stolen base attempts, another outfield assist by Rosario — and blood.

Yankees righthander Bryan Mitchell put a scare into the crowd when he was hit in the face by Nunez's line drive with two outs in the second. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. The ball deflected off him and to short center field as Rosario scored to make it 3-1 Yankees. Blood began to drip to the grass as trainers rushed to Mitchell's aid. He was diagnosed with a small nasal fracture and will be monitored for a concussion.

"It's a moment where your heart sinks," said Molitor, who said a prayer for Mitchell as he was being attended to.

The Twins scored three runs in the third, two coming on Sano's home run to left. Brian McCann replied with a two-run single in the bottom of the inning as the Yankees took a 5-4 lead.

But Aaron Hicks led off the fourth with a solo home run. Trevor Plouffe led off the fifth with a solo shot, then hit a two-out single to left in the sixth that scored Joe Mauer and gave the Twins a 7-5 lead.

Gibson walked leadoff hitter Mark Teixeira in the sixth and was replaced by Brian Duensing. He completed the first part of his assignment by striking out McCann. Then he tried to bust Carlos Beltran inside, didn't get inside enough and the veteran hit a two-run homer to tie the score at 7-7. Both bullpens held until the 10th.

Bird, who replaced the injured Teixeira after he walked in the sixth, doubled to right-center off Perkins to start the 10th. McCann, a pull hitter who knocked in five runs, drove a ball the other way to the left-center gap. Rosario failed to come up with it as McCann reached second and Bird pulled into third. Beltran was intentionally walked to bring up Headley — and the defining moment of the night.

"It's all on my back," Nunez said. "I think I lost the game. Absolutely."