Defense, it clearly can win games just as easily as it can lose games. In the case for the Minnesota Twins on Friday night, it cost them Game One of their road trip opener against the New York Yankees.
Aaron Hicks, got a little revenge on the Minnesota Twins (23-50) with a solo blast in the eighth and the Yankees (36-36) took advantage of three errors by the Twins, winning on Friday, 5-3.
The Twins actually took the lead early when Eduardo Nunez singled to center, plating a pair of runs.
The Yankees tied things in the third when Alex Rodriguez hit an RBI single to left to score Carlos Beltran.
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Byron Buxton hit an RBI groundout to score Byung-ho Park in the fourth to give the Minnesota Twins their second and final lead of the game.
Hicks reached on an error by Joe Mauer in the fourth and the Yankees proceeded to score two more runs in the inning to take a 4-3 lead.
The final blow came in the eighth when Hicks hit his homer.
For the Twins, Tommy Milone did not get any help from his defense and went just 3 2/3, allowing four runs – one earned.
Neil Ramirez was impressive in his turn out of the bullpen. He went 2 1/3 innings, allowed just one hit, walked one and struck out a pair.
MVT: Brian Dozier
The Minnesota Twins will attempt to tie the series in Game Two Saturday at 12:05 CST. Ervin Santana (2-7, 4.83) will faceoff with Michael Pineda (3-7, 5.82). Santana is fresh off his first win in over a month, beating the Yankees in the Twins’ only win from their four-game series last weekend.