The Minnesota Twins<\/a>, the surprise champions of the American League Central division, showed there is a lot of work yet to do if a trip to the League Championship series is in their near future. The Twins relief pitching and miscues on defense proved too much to overcome in Game One of the ALDS. The New York Yankees<\/a> continued their mastery of the Twins and kept them in a familiar place \u2026 the wrong end of a 10 to 4 final score.<\/p>\n The Minnesota Twins relieving corps, which had been fairly reliable down the stretch had a night they must quickly forget. Though down 5-3 after five innings the Twins do have an offense that will keep them in most games. But tonight, a six-run deficit put too much pressure on each at-bat as the game wore on. Jose Berrios<\/a><\/strong> pitched a decent four innings, but even with the last inning being a quick one-two-three, Twins\u2019 skipper Rocco Baldelli<\/a><\/strong> had seen enough.<\/p>\n The Minnesota pen then broke a cardinal rule in baseball \u2013 letting the opposition score right after the offense tied the game. Zack Littell<\/a><\/strong>, who not only failed to record an out, also added a hit-batter and a wild-pitch to his line in the box score. Cody Stashak<\/a><\/strong> and Kyle Gibson<\/a><\/strong> each gave up crooked numbers to the Yankees. Brusdar Graterol<\/a><\/strong> was the only silver lining in the dark, dark cloud that was the Twins relief effort tonight.<\/p>\n The bullpen was not alone when it came to shoulder the blame for this defeat. A shallow fly-ball to right field, which probably would have been caught by a healthy Luis Arraez<\/a> <\/strong>in the bottom the third, instead fell hopelessly to the ground; an error at first by CJ Cron<\/a><\/strong> on what should have been a double-play, allowed the tying run to score in the third inning. A smash down the line at third by Gleyber Torres<\/a><\/strong> ricocheted off of Miguel Sano<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s glove and ended up in left field, driving in two runs. If the Twins have any hope of winning a game, much less the series, they cannot replicate tonight\u2019s defensive effort.<\/p>\nTWINS BULLPEN ROCKED<\/h3>\n
DEFENSIVE PLAYS COSTLY<\/h3>\n
SHORT MEMORIES<\/h3>\n