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Home | Sports | Twins

Young homer stops Yanks -- for a while

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Adam Everett singled to center, driving in Delmon Young (background right) in the fourth inning, to tie the score at 3-3. It was Everett’s second RBI of the game, after a second-inning sacrifice fly.

Delmon Young's eighth-inning homer tied the score, but 12th-inning homers by Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady mattered more.

By JOE CHRISTENSEN, Star Tribune

Last update: August 13, 2008 - 9:39 AM

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NEW YORK YANKEES 9, TWINS 6 (12 INNINGS)

Up next: 12:10 p.m. today vs. N.Y. • Metrodome • No TV (1500-AM)

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The Twins fell out of first place for the third time this month Tuesday night with a loss to the Yankees that went nothing like anyone could have predicted.

Mariano Rivera had converted all 28 of his save chances this year and never had allowed a home run to the Twins in 201 plate appearances.

All that changed in the eighth inning, when Delmon Young sliced a three-run homer inside the right-field foul pole, sending an announced crowd of 33,036 at the Metrodome into a frenzy.

That big moment tied the score, but Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady hit 12th-inning homers off Matt Guerrier to give the Yankees a 9-6 victory.

"Well, heck of a ballgame," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It didn't turn out our way at the end. We kind of ran out of bullets, but we battled pretty doggone hard."

The Twins fell a half-game behind the White Sox, who defeated Kansas City 9-0.

Guerrier (6-6) has posted a 18.00 ERA in seven games this month, but he worked a scoreless 11th inning before getting pounded by the middle of New York's lineup in the 12th.

Rodriguez drilled a 1-0 pitch from Guerrier an estimated 426 feet, well beyond the center-field wall, for his 27th home run.

"That's not a guy you want to miss on," Gardenhire said. "That guy, if he gets on first, we're OK. [Guerrier] just got a ball up, and he killed it. Just made a bad pitch.

"I think he got one up to [Ivan] Rodriguez and Nady, too. We tried to get someone up [in the bullpen], but it was fairly quick."

Young's home run spoiled Mike Mussina's bid to join Cleveland's Cliff Lee as the American League's only 16-game winners.

Mussina held the Twins to three runs on eight hits over seven innings and left with a 6-3 lead.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi turned to newly acquired lefthander Damaso Marte to start the eighth, and the Twins quickly came to life.

Mike Redmond doubled, and Randy Ruiz singled as a pinch hitter for Jason Kubel. That put runners at the corners with one out.

Girardi did what the Yankees have done so many times over the years, turning to Rivera for a five-out save.

Young, who was 0-for-5 in his career off Rivera, fouled off his first two offerings, and then drilled the next one -- another 92-miles-per-hour cut fastball -- down the right-field line.

Rivera watched from the mound, trying to lean the ball foul. But it stayed fair by inches, hitting the folded up seats above the right-field baggie.

It was Young's sixth homer of the season, his third since the All-Star break, and this one sent an announced crowd of 33,036 into a frenzy.

Young took a curtain call.

In 38 career games against the Twins, including one start, Rivera had posted a 1.19 ERA and had held their batters to a .183 batting average.

After the home run, Rivera retired five of the next six batters he faced, sending the game to extra innings.

"Good effort by our baseball team," Gardenhire said. "Come back against Rivera, that's a lot of fun. Unfortunately we couldn't add on and get the win."

Earlier, the Twins owed most of their offensive output to their new standby -- Adam Everett.

This is his eighth major league season, and until Monday, he never had produced multiple RBI in back-to-back games.

Now he's done it three games in a row. Everett hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning and a two-out, run-scoring single that tied the score at 3-3 in the fourth.

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