NEW YORK (AP) — Luis Gil pitched six shutout innings of one-hit ball to win his seventh consecutive start, Giancarlo Stanton launched a two-run homer and the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 5-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight victory.
Aaron Judge flared a two-run double and Gleyber Torres homered early on a 349-foot drive that glanced off the glove of a leaping Max Kepler at the right-field fence.
Returning home from a 7-2 trip to three California cities, the AL East-leading Yankees won for the 17th time in 21 games overall and improved to 105-42 against the Twins since 2002 — the best record for any team against an opponent in its own league during that span.
New York outscored the Twins 14-1 last month in Minnesota, throwing consecutive shutouts to complete a three-game sweep.
The only run Minnesota managed this time came on a homer from Royce Lewis in his return from a 58-game injury absence. Lewis walked twice and connected in the seventh off Tommy Kahnle, snapping a 32-inning scoreless drought for the Twins against Yankees pitching.
Kahnle combined with fellow relievers Ian Hamilton and Luke Weaver to finish the two-hitter.
In the latest dominant outing of a sensational rookie season, Gil (8-1) struck out six, walked three and lowered his ERA to 1.82. He was selected the American League pitcher and rookie of the month for May.
Minnesota starter Bailey Ober (5-4) pitched in tough luck, permitting three runs and three hits with four walks in five innings.
Judge singled in the eighth and scored on Stanton’s two-out homer into the second deck in left field off Caleb Thielbar to make it 5-1.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: Lewis had been sidelined since opening day, when he sustained a severe quadriceps strain while running the bases in Kansas City. He missed 58 games.
Yankees: RHP Gerrit Cole pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings for Double-A Somerset in his first minor league rehab start since being sidelined in spring training by a right elbow injury. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner struck out five of the 11 batters he faced and walked none against Hartford, a Colorado Rockies affiliate. He allowed two hits and threw 45 pitches, 34 for strikes. … The team extended the rehab assignment of OF Jasson Domínguez (Tommy John surgery) another 10 days and transferred him from Somerset to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Domínguez would be very close to ready right now if needed in the big leagues.
UP NEXT
Twins RHP Chris Paddack (4-2, 4.57 ERA) starts the middle game of the series Wednesday night against LHP Carlos Rodón (7-2, 3.09), who went six innings for a 5-1 win May 14 at Minnesota.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
