Seven games of frustration were more than enough for the New York Yankees.
After snapping their ugly slide, the Yankees will shoot for another win Saturday afternoon when they host the Minnesota Twins.
New York ended its longest skid since dropping nine straight Aug. 12-22, 2023, in a season when it won 82 games and was without Aaron Judge for nearly two months due to a fractured toe.
The Yankees have played the past month with Judge, who is sidelined due to a right rib stress fracture. They are 13-15 without their captain, including a series-opening 5-2 win over Minnesota.
After batting .137 during the seven-game skid, New York did enough with six hits on Friday. Ben Rice hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the third inning, Trent Grisham homered and lifted a sacrifice fly, and Jose Caballero had an RBI single.
“It doesn’t feel good to lose so many games,” Rice said. “I think everyone in this room was ready to turn the corner. I’m happy we were able to get the win.”
Rice enters Saturday with 24 homers on the season but just seven hits in 49 at-bats (.143) over his past 13 games. Paul Goldschmidt is hitless in his past 20 at-bats while Cody Bellinger is in a 5-for-49 (.102) skid over his past 14 games.
Minnesota has lost 32 of its past 38 games at Yankee Stadium, regular season and postseason, and has just two wins in its past 14 meetings with the Yankees overall. The Twins went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the series opener and struck out 14 times against Gerrit Cole and four relievers.
“We’ve been good with runners in scoring position,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton, whose team is hitting a major-league-leading .285 in those situations. “Tonight we had a tough night. We didn’t get the big hit, which we’ve been getting.”
Kody Clemens homered and Victor Caratini hit an RBI single, but the Twins struck out at least 14 times for the fifth time this season. Royce Lewis fanned twice, and he heads into Saturday with three hits in his past 15 at-bats.
Twins center fielder Byron Buxton missed his fourth straight game because of right hip impingement.
Zebby Matthews (4-5, 4.15 ERA), who is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA in his past three outings, starts for Minnesota on Saturday. Matthews has allowed two runs or fewer in six of his nine starts, including Monday in Houston, when he yielded one run on four hits in seven innings during a victory.
Matthews is 0-2 with a 12.46 ERA in a pair of starts against the Yankees. He allowed three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings during a 6-2 loss in New York on Aug. 11, 2025, and was tagged for nine runs on 11 hits in three innings in a 10-9 defeat on Sept. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis.
Carlos Rodon was scheduled to start on Saturday until the Yankees put him on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation on Friday. Instead, Brendan Beck (0-0, 6.00 ERA) will make his first career start and second career major league appearance.
Beck made his major league debut by allowing two runs in a three-inning relief outing on May 7 against the Texas Rangers. At Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, the 27-year-old right-hander is 7-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 16 starts, having struck out 91 in 88 innings.
New York rookie center fielder Spencer Jones was optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the Friday game. Jones hit .233 with two homers and seven RBIs in 30 games with the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
