The Minnesota Twins first lost second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka to a broken leg due to a Nick Swisher slide in the seventh inning and then later lost Thursday’s game — and the series — to the New York Yankees by a margin of 4-3.
According to several reports, Nishioka will be placed on the disabled list and the Twins will likely promote Luke Hughes from AAA Rochester to fill Nishioka’s roster spot.
The game was the second poor outing from Twins starting pitcher Francisco Liriano. In 5.0 innings, Liriano allowed four hits, walked three batters and gave up four runs to make his ERA a disappointing 7.71 on the season after his earlier outing against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Twins were able to mount a decent inning of offense in the top of the fourth as Jim Thome doubled home Justin Morneau and then Jason Kubel had a double of his own to get Thome across home plate, but the Yankees were able to keep the rally to two runs by getting Danny Valencia and Alexi Cassilla out to end the inning.
Denard Span also batted Casilla home in the seventh inning after Casilla reached base by being hit by a pitch, stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error before Span’s grounder to get him home.
The Twins will have their home-opener on Friday afternoon against the Oakland Athletics.