Yankees 8, Twins 4
The New York Yankees, who lead the majors in home runs, opened a four-game series in Minnesota by crushing three more in an 8-4 win over the Twins on Thursday night.
Mark Teixeira belted his 33rd of the season and Andruw Jones (eighth) and Nick Swisher (15th) went back-to-back in the fifth inning. Jones’ blast sailed nearly into the third deck in left for New York, which has 163 homers this season.
CC Sabathia (17-7) was the beneficiary as he bounced back from two shaky starts. He allowing three earned runs and fanned nine over seven innings.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected in the first when he vehemently argued that umpires wrongly overturned a Justin Morneau home run. Video replay confirmed it was a foul ball.
Minnesota’s Joe Mauer started in right field for the first time after making 736 starts at catcher and 12 at first base. He went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly.