Minnesota Twins series preview: Twins get their biggest test of season from Yankees

The Minnesota Twins have a checkered past with the New York Yankees, but this week could show this generation of Twins can handle the spotlight.

When it comes to the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees, the results have usually been lopsided toward the visitors to the east. During the 2000s, the Twins typically ran into the Yankees in October and usually bowed out in short order. In fact, the Yankees were the last team that the Twins have defeated in the playoffs, but that dates back to Game 1 of the 2004 ALDS.

Flash forward 15 years later and the Twins have another opportunity to end that drought if they can hang onto their lead in the American League Central. It seems irrelevant to bring up the past considering that Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are all long gone, but in fans’ minds, every time they see those pinstripes, a cold shudder comes up thinking about their past.

Now would be a bad time for those feelings to come up because the Twins could really use some positive thinking coming into a three-game series at Target Field that begins Monday night. The Twins split a series with the Oakland Athletics over the weekend, but it feels like they did worse considering the bullpen did everything they could to spoil the pair of games that they did win.

As Rocco Baldelli has played Russian Roulette with his bullpen, names such as Trevor May, Zack Littell and others struggled as the Twins have waited for their three designated relievers to be claimed on waivers or traded for cash considerations. The result was a seven-man bullpen that got exposed thanks to short starts by the starting rotation and the exhausted arms had a tough time slowing down the Athletics’ bats.

Entering the series with New York, there will be no rest on the mound as the Yankees come into this series with the second-most runs per game (5.71) in Major League Baseball trailing the Boston Red Sox (5.72). To further drive the point out, these self-proclaimed savages have claimed the best record in the American League at 64-34 and have the second-best record in baseball trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers (67-35).

What’s mind-blowing about the Yankees’ season is that they’ve battled major injuries all season long and still are one of the best teams in baseball. Both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have missed significant time due to injury, but the Yankees have had others step up including a resurgent Gary Sanchez (.240, 24 HR, 58 RBI) and a breakout season from D.J. LeMahieu (.334, 13 HR, 67 RBI).

The Twins have seen this as they took on the Yankees for a three-game series in the Bronx back in April. In those games, the Twins were shut down by the Yankees’ pitching staff as Domingo German had a strong start in the rubber game on May 5 and Aroldis Chapman picked up a pair of saves as New York took two out of three games.

Minnesota will hope for a different result this time around as the Cleveland Indians continue to make their charge toward the top of the American League Central. Just as important, the Twins have to not let this Yankee team get in their head as taking a series against a team they’ll probably see in October would go a long way in establishing some much-needed confidence.

To try and topple the Yankees, the Twins will send Martin Perez (8-3, 4.10 ERA) against CC Sabathia (5-4, 4.06 ERA) in Monday’s opener and follow with Kyle Gibson (9-4, 4.02 ERA) against Domingo German (12-2, 3.38 ERA) on Tuesday night. The third game of the series will feature Jake Odorizzi (11-4, 3.18 ERA) against J.A. Happ (8-5, 4.86 ERA).