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Young, Slowey lift Twins past Yanks

Aug 13, 2008 - 9:48 PM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Delmon Young hit a three-run homer for the second consecutive day, and Kevin Slowey worked six effective innings as the Minnesota Twins posted a 4-2 victory over New York on Wednesday.

Young's blast in the bottom of the fourth inning helped the Twins erase a 1-0 deficit. It marked the second straight game he hit a three-run homer after he went deep against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in the eighth inning of Tuesday's contest.

Slowey (9-8) beat New York for the first time and won his second straight start overall, allowing one run and three hits. The 24-year-old righthander has given up just two runs in his last two outings, spanning 11 2/3 innings.

Jason Giambi's RBI single scored Alex Rodriguez in the first, snapping a club-record string of 18 straight starts that Slowey had held opponents scoreless in the opening frame.

"Coming in after the first inning, and being able to talk to (pitching coach Rick Anderson and catcher Joe Mauer), and just say, 'Look, keep making your pitches, it will work out alright,'" Slowey said. "After that, we just did our best to eliminate misses up. If you are going to throw a ball and it was going to be high, aim high-high. If it was going to be low, aim ankle low."

After Giambi's single, Slowey retired the next 12 batters he faced.

He left after the sixth following a brief delay, as plate umpire Mike Winters was forced to leave the game after being hit by a foul ball. First base umpire Angel Campos took Winters' spot behind the plate.

"Winning two out of three is big," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "A lot of crazy things happened. Delmon hit the big home run for us, which was huge to get us on the board. Slowey threw the ball great. He had to sit it out with the umpire going out, and the pitching changes and a guy getting hurt. Too much time in the dugout with 91 pitches, so we had to make a pitching change."

Craig Breslow pitched a perfect seventh, but allowed back-to-back singles to open the eighth. Dennys Reyes got the next two batters. But, Bobby Abreu reached first on a strikeout and wild pitch, keeping the inning going and scoring Ivan Rodriguez from third. Jesse Crain ended the threat by getting Rodriguez to fly out.

Joe Nathan worked around a two-out walk in the ninth for his 32nd save in 35 chances.

Young's three-run shot against Rivera on Tuesday snapped a string of 28-straight saves for the future Hall of Famer.

His blast Wednesday capped a critical inning against New York starter Darrell Rasner.

Joe Mauer led off the fourth inning with a walk and Justin Morneau hit a bouncer to Rodriguez at third base. Rodriguez made the throw to second, but umpire Brian Runge ruled Cano to be off the bag for an error.

"It's a different inning," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said about the error's impact. "It's two-run, maybe a one-run lead and the game can change. Pitches approach hitters a little different when the scores a little bit closer. It hurts, you can't give runs away."

Following a sacrifice fly by Jason Kubel, Young belted a 2-1 pitch over the right-center field wall, giving the Twins a 3-1 lead. Young went 5-for-12 in the three-game series.

"The ball is just happening to hit the bat," Young said. "I can't control anything else besides that."

Brian Buscher added a sacrifice fly in the sixth, making it 4-1.

Rasner (5-9), making his first start after one appearance in relief, gave up three runs - two earned - and four hits over five innings.

New York, which played without captain Derek Jeter due to a bruised left instep, completed a disappointing 3-7 road trip.

"It is something that shouldn't happen, it's inexcusable," Girardi said of the mental mistakes that have plagued the team. "Those guys have played together long enough. They understand what they need to do. Sometimes, it is just trying to do too much. You can't. You have to be able to relax and play."

The Yankees fell to 28-31 on the road.

"We have 40 games left, so it's out there for the taking," New York's Johnny Damon said. "We have six more with Boston, six more with Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay just had some big injuries. It's there for us. It's there for us to go out and play well and see what we can make out of this."