After early inning struggles, Scott Baker settled down and the Twins bats finally came alive, but it wasn't enough as the Good Guys dropped a close one to the Yankees, 4-3.
Early on, Baker looked like he would continue the early season trend of Twins pitchers imitating a batting tee, as Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada each hit two run homers in the first two inning, putting Minnesota in an early 4-0 hole.
Those would be home runs seven and eight given up by Twins pitchers so far this year, if you're keeping score at home.
But the Twins rallied in the top of the fourth. After the first two batters were retired, Justin Morneau doubled, and Delmon Young hit an infield single, moving Morneau over to third. DH Jim Thome then crushed a low fastball to deep right center for a two run double, scoring Young and Morneau and cutting the deficit in half.
Baker worked himself out of trouble in the bottom of the fourth, and the Twins got to within a run in the top of the 5th on doubles by Alexi Casilla and Japanese wunderkind Tsuyoshi Nishioka.
But that was as close as the Twins got, as the Yankee bullpen combo of Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano, and Mariano Rivera shut the Twins bats down over the final three innings.
The Twins fall to 1-3 on the year, with three more games against the Yankees before the make their home debut against the A's next Friday.
Tomorrow, Brian Duensing tries to reverse the early season skid, while CC Sabathis takes the hill for the Yankees.
First pitch is 6:05 CST.
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