NEW YORK – Aaron Judge tied the score with a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning, Gary Sanchez hit a single in the 10th to put the Twins on the ground and the New York Yankees erased a deficit of five touchdowns to beat Minnesota 6-5 on Monday night.
New York, with its season in a tailspin the past two weeks, won for just the fourth time in 16 games after a 13-game winning streak. He came within the middle game of the AL wild card leaders Toronto and Boston, with 18 games remaining on the regular schedule.
Gleyber Torres, who lost the starting shortstop and was placed on second base, started the 10th inning as a pinch-runner. After one out, Sánchez hit his single off Ralph Garza Jr. (1-3) and Torres scored without difficulty.
Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sanó hit two-run homers in the first inning and Byron Buxton added a solo punch in the third to give Minnesota a 5-0 lead against rookie Luis Gil.
DJ LeMahieu started the comeback with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning that Max Kepler hopped up in right field. Joey Gallo hit his 33rd home run of the season and eighth for the Yankees in the seventh inning off Tyler Duffey.
Judge, back in the lineup after exiting Sunday’s game against the Mets with lightheadedness in the third inning, blew the wall with Anthony Rizzo and Brett Gardner on board to hit 33 home runs and tie the score.
Clay Holmes (5-1) worked the 10th inning for the win.
New York ended a six-game losing streak at home, its longest in a decade.
For the Yankees, Sanchez 2-1 with an RBI. Venezuelan Gleyber Torres 4-0 with a run scored. Colombian Gio Urshela 1-0.
For the Twins, the Dominicans Miguel Sanó 5-3 with two RBIs and one scored; Jorge Polanco 5-1 with two RBIs and one scored. Venezuelan Luis Arráez 5-2 with one scored.
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