Twins 6 - 1 Yankees
Final
  for this game

Twins top Yankees behind power surge

May 31, 2014 - 4:44 AM Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Oswaldo Arcia went 2-for-4 and had one of three Minnesota home runs that powered the Twins to a 6-1 triumph over the New York Yankees.

Arcia and Josh Willingham each delivered solo homers and Trevor Plouffe belted a two-run shot for Minnesota, which entered the opener of this three-game series having lost six of its last seven games. Kurt Suzuki added a pair of hits, including an RBI single, to help batterymate Ricky Nolasco halt a five- start winless stretch.

Nolasco (3-5) worked around seven hits and four walks to hold the Yankees to one run over six innings and pick up his first victory since April 24.

"He commanded his fastball a little bit better tonight," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Nolasco.

All three Minnesota long balls came off of Vidal Nuno (1-2), who was reached for four runs in an otherwise solid start. The left-hander struck out six without a walk while lasting 6 2/3 innings.

"At times he was decent, but when he made a mistake, they hit it out of the park," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Nuno.

Jacoby Ellsbury knocked in New York's lone run with a third-inning double, with Yangervis Solarte recording two hits in the loss.

Arcia got Minnesota's home run binge started by ripping an 0-2 pitch from Nuno into the second deck in right field in the second inning. Willingham later snapped a 1-1 tie with a fence-clearing drive in the fourth, and Arcia followed with a single in front of Plouffe's blast into the monuments behind center field that staked the Twins to a 4-1 advantage.

The Yankees got on the board prior to Minnesota's three-run fourth, with Ellsbury lacing a two-out double in the bottom of the third after Brett Gardner got into scoring position with his first of two steals on the night.

New York had opportunities to pull closer in both the fifth and sixth innings, but a baserunning blunder and a strong defensive play thwarted each attempt.

Derek Jeter singled to right with Gardner on second in the fifth, but got caught in a rundown in which Gardner ended up tagged out between home plate and third base.

After the Yankees put two runners on against Nolasco an inning afterward, Solarte smacked a single to right. Arcia got to the ball quickly, however, and fired a strike to the plate that gunned down Brian Roberts to keep it a 4-1 game.

New York never threatened thereafter, and the Twins put the contest out of reach on consecutive two-out RBI singles from Suzuki and Eduardo Nunez in the eighth.

Game Notes

First baseman Mark Teixeira returned to the Yankees' lineup after missing three straight games with wrist soreness and drew three walks against Nolasco ... Minnesota's Danny Santana exited the game in the third inning after his helmet cut him on his eyelid as he stole third base ... Santana's steal was the first ever attempted on Nuno in the majors ... Arcia is riding a seven- game hitting streak and has gone 9-for-21 in five outings since being recalled from the minors ... Nolasco entered the game 1-3 with an 8.63 ERA in six road starts this season ... The Twins have not allowed a home run in five consecutive games, their longest stretch since going seven straight from June 9-15 of last season.






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