Pettitte Sparks - Yanks Topple Twins - Sept 24, 2012

September 24, 2012

     The Yankees continue to win and play hot baseball in the month of October as the season winds down.  In just his second start since returning from the DL, veteran Andy Pettitte tossed 6 scoreless innings in a 6-3 Yankees win over the Minnesota.  His presence back in the lineup certainly can solidify staff rotations in a postseason.

      The Yankees in the Twin City faced off against Liam Hendriks, and they did not waste any time as they jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first with Nick Swisher ripping a chunk out of the ball, into the deep right-center field seats it went for his 23rd homer of the season.  Curtis Granderson homered in the fourth inning, his 40th home-run of the year.  Granderson is now one of the only three in Yankee history to have back-to-back 40 home-run seasons, he is now among an elite few which includes Jason Giambi and Lou Gehrig.  Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez added back-to-back solo shots in the seventh to get the Yankees their 6 runs.  As for Andy, he was dandy and pitched 6 solid scoreless innings despite giving up 7 hits.  Pettitte escaped out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first.  Then in the bottom of the fourth, he was helped by Curtis Granderson in center-field as his relay throw to home plate was right on the mark to Russell Martin who applied a very nice tag to the shoulder of Ryan Doumit who was attempting to score from second on a 2-Out single.  That kept the scoreless innings in place.  David Robertson did make things interesting in the 9th as he surrendered a 2-run triple which brought the Twins a bit closer, but got the final out to make things official.  The Yankees have won 8 of their last 9 games, and certainly feel positive with less than 10 games remaining on the season.

     Andy Pettitte has not given up a run since coming off the DL which is a bonus for Yankee pitching.  The Yankees now go up by a game and a half against the Baltimore Orioles who lost the second game of a double-header against the Blue Jays.

B.C Sports,
Brian C