NEW YORK — Luis Gil pitched six shutout innings of one-hit ball to win his seventh consecutive start, Giancarlo Stanton launched a two-run homer and the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 5-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight victory.
Aaron Judge flared a two-run double and Gleyber Torres homered early on a 349-foot drive that glanced off the glove of a leaping Max Kepler at the right-field fence.
Returning home from a 7-2 trip to three California cities, the AL East-leading Yankees won for the 17th time in 21 games overall and improved to 105-42 against the Twins since 2002 — the best record for any team against an opponent in its own league during that span.
New York outscored the Twins 14-1 last month in Minnesota, throwing consecutive shutouts to complete a three-game sweep.
The only run Minnesota managed this time came on a homer from Royce Lewis in his return from a 58-game injury absence. Lewis walked twice and connected in the seventh off Tommy Kahnle, snapping a 32-inning scoreless drought for the Twins against Yankees pitching.
Kahnle combined with fellow relievers Ian Hamilton and Luke Weaver to finish the two-hitter.
In the latest dominant outing of a sensational rookie season, Gil (8-1) struck out six, walked three and lowered his ERA to 1.82. He was selected the American League pitcher and rookie of the month for May.
Minnesota starter Bailey Ober (5-4) pitched in tough luck, permitting three runs and three hits with four walks in five innings.
Judge singled in the eighth and scored on Stanton's two-out homer into the second deck in left field off Caleb Thielbar to make it 5-1.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: Lewis had been sidelined since opening day, when he sustained a severe quadriceps strain while running the bases in Kansas City. He missed 58 games.
Yankees: RHP Gerrit Cole pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings for Double-A Somerset in his first minor league rehab start since being sidelined in spring training by a right elbow injury. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner struck out five of the 11 batters he faced and walked none against Hartford, a Colorado Rockies affiliate. He allowed two hits and threw 45 pitches, 34 for strikes. ... The team extended the rehab assignment of OF Jasson Domínguez (Tommy John surgery) another 10 days and transferred him from Somerset to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Domínguez would be very close to ready right now if needed in the big leagues.
UP NEXT
Twins RHP Chris Paddack (4-2, 4.57 ERA) starts the middle game of the series Wednesday night against LHP Carlos Rodón (7-2, 3.09), who went six innings for a 5-1 win May 14 at Minnesota.
