MINNEAPOLIS -- New York’s mindset Tuesday night was to flush what happened 24 hours earlier.
Offensively, the Bronx Bombers did so in spades by pounding Minnesota for an early nine-run lead before a tough outing from a reliever resulted in a nail-biting 10-9 win at Target Field.
“A little exhale after that one,” said manager Aaron Boone.
It was quite the offensive reversal from Monday’s 7-0 loss, a game in which New York tied a season low with two hits.
The Yankees quadrupled that number in jumping out to a 6-1 second-inning lead highlighted by a two-run home run from Trent Grisham. Austin Wells added an RBI double, and Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton had RBI singles.
“We got some pitches in the zone that we handled well, but I think what really helped us was the mentality of being ready to hit,” Grisham said.
New York has hit a Major League-leading 255 home runs this year. The Dodgers were second with 220 entering Tuesday.
Sacrifice flies by Grisham and Aaron Judge followed by a Ben Rice RBI double made it 9-1 in the third. Eight of the nine New York batters had hits to that point. Jazz Chisholm Jr. made it 9-for-9 with a fourth-inning single, a frame in which New York added another run.
“It was just pretty impressive three innings of at-bats there from everyone,” Boone said.
New York leads the Majors with 784 runs scored, 5.19 per game. The Yankees have reached double digits 23 times but hadn’t done so in their previous 15 games.
They’re also tops in slugging percentage, OPS, extra-base hits, total bases, walks and intentional walks.
Trailing Toronto (89-62) by five games in the American League East might be too much to overcome for a division crown with just 11 games remaining. But when their offense is clicking, the Yankees (84-67), atop the AL Wild Card standings, will be a problem postseason out no matter their playoff seed.
They might need that kind of offense with a bullpen that entered the day with a 5.56 ERA since Aug. 1, better only than Colorado.
Starter Cam Schlittler allowed three of his season-high-tying four runs in the fifth inning before Fernando Cruz got the inning’s final out.
Ryan Yarbrough started the sixth and allowed four runs on four hits in one-third of an inning as Minnesota got within 10-8. His first three batters went double, RBI single and two-run homer.
“Once Cruz came in and kind of settled things with a big out, and him getting a six-run cushion and they got the back half of the lineup with lefties, you’re not sure if they’re going to flip it, you don’t really care, you’re just hoping Yarbs can kind of get on a roll like he typically does. Just made too many mistakes tonight,” Boone said.
Mark Leiter Jr. and Devin Williams extinguished the fire with a combined 2 2/3 scoreless innings. David Bednar allowed a solo homer to Trevor Larnach in the ninth before closing the door for his 25th save and eighth with the Yankees.
“That’s one of the stories of the game for me, a huge four outs there from Mark to settle things,” Boone said. "… Him getting four outs was massive, and that allowed Devin and Bednar to take it from there.”
It has been a bullpen roller-coaster the past week: 18 runs allowed in two 10-run losses to Detroit, then four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings across the next four games before Luke Weaver yielded five runs in Monday’s loss.
Still, Leiter likes who the Yankees have for relievers.
“I feel we have one of the best bullpens in the league. We’ve added a lot of new pieces. It kind of ebbs and flows in finding spots and guys. I feel very confident that we’ve got a very good group out there to get big outs in any situation,” Leiter said.
Judge again started in right field, the first time the two-time AL MVP has played the outfield on consecutive days since he suffered a right elbow flexor strain in late July. He was not required to make a high-velocity throw.