AL Wild-Card Game

This was quite a cruel tease for the many haters of the New York Yankees.

Cheer up. You can now root against them in the American League Divisional Series against the Cleveland Indians.

The Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 8-4 on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium in the AL wild-card game and, as one might figure, home runs played a part in the win. Six of the eight New York runs scored on their three homers. But pay attention to the stellar work of the bullpen.

The Twins chased Yankees starter Luis Severino in the first inning. He got only one out and gave up a pair of home runs, departing with a 3-0 deficit. Then the bullpen stepped in and stepped up.

Chad Green got the final two outs of that first inning on strikeouts with runners on second and third. And then Didi Gregorius tied the game with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first.

Green gave up a run in the third and then the door slammed shut.

David Robertson, who got the win, pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out five. Tommy Kahnle pitched 2 1/3 innings and didn’t give up a hit.

Closer Aroldis Chapman came in to strike out the side in the ninth, giving up a two-out single.

That’s 13 strikeouts by the bullpen. One run and five hits in 8 2/3 innings.

With the Yankees ahead 5-4 in the fourth, Gary Judge belted a two-run homer and New York was pretty much on its way to the showdown with the Indians, runners-up in last year’s World Series. The ALDS begins Thursday night in Cleveland.

Wednesday night: In the National League’s wild-card matchup, the Colorado Rockies play the Arizona Diamondbacks at 8 p.m. (TBS)

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman