Yankees' deep, productive pitching rotation leaves injury-riddled Twins in envy

The New York Yankees arrived in their second-favorite ballpark, Target Field, on Tuesday night, and received an obstacle that has been a rarity for them in this so-far sensational season.

That would be a less-than-mediocre effort from one of the Big Five in their starting rotation.

Jameson Taillon had been exceptional for the largest share of 10 starts. That was particularly true in his last three:

One run in seven innings vs. the White Sox, no runs in eight innings vs. the Rays and a perfect game for seven vs. the Angels, and winding up with eight innings in a 2-1 victory.

The Yankees were 39-15 at the one-third mark of this season entering Tuesday. That allowed them to share with the 2016 Chicago Cubs the best record at that point for any MLB team since the 2001 Seattle Mariners were 42-12.

Taillon was the starter, with the Twins waiting until midafternoon to announce they had thrown a dart at a printed St. Paul Saints roster and decided on another start for rookie Cole Sands — even after an unpromising effort last week in Detroit.

As it turned out, Taillon ended a streak of 21 straight games in which a Yankees starter went five innings at a minimum.

Three-zero, Yankees, after the top of the first.

Maybe those rockets made it appear to Taillon that this was going to be a quick slaughter for his Bombers, rather than a later-on slaughter.

Taillon was hooked with no outs in the fifth, which included a blast to right by Jorge Polanco for his seventh home run. That cut the Yankees' lead to the 5-4 and, soon, Taillon was leaving with this line: four innings, nine hits and four earned runs.

A couple of hours later, Tyler Duffey entered, continued his bad habit of featuring hangers with his once-deadly curveball and Anthony Rizzo hammered it for a three-run home run.

The final was Yankees, 10-4, and now the Twins get Nestor Cortes, the best starter in the American League this season, and Gerrit Cole, holder of that title for long stretches in the past.

Taillon (11), Cole (11), Cortes (10), Jordan Montgomery (11) and Luis Severino (10) have started 53 of Yankees' games.

There have been some injury issues in the past among this group, but in 2022, they have been tremendous in both performance and durability.

The ERAs range from Cortes' 1.50 to Montgomery's 3.02. The innings pitched range from Severino's 55 to Cole's 64 ⅔.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was conducting his pregame media session in the visitors dugout and was asked the daily presence of the five-man rotation.

He expressed his appreciation and added: "The two starts they have not made were part of doubleheaders. And Luis [Gil] and J.P. Sears made those starts and pitched well.

Across the way, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was asked his view of such rotation stability.

"Yeah, the Yankees pitching staff right now is doing a lot of things right,'' he said. "In a year especially where injuries are, I would say, through the roof everywhere, the fact they've taken the mound and been able to do their jobs has been impressive … They're very tough and they're going to make your life very difficult when it comes to scoring runs.''

That roof protecting managers from pitching injuries started to leak for Baldelli early.

Remember those halcyon days of April when the Twins felt so good about their starter depth that they celebrated with a six-pitcher rotation?

Sonny Gray fell first early in the second trip through the rotation and the gaps have been constant.

The current injury list includes starters Gray, Bailey Ober and rookie Josh Winder, who was elevated from long relief to starter when the vacancies started. Joe Ryan has been on the COVID list for two weeks; he's ready to pitch, but Baldelli has mentioned a possible rehab start.

Let's face it: Life rarely has been fair for the Twins against the Yankees. Now, it's excellence and reliability vs. ailments and inadequacy in the rotation, making it look dang near impossible.