In a seesawing eighth inning, catcher Gary Sanchez pulled up limp after stepping on first base trying to beat out a ground ball. He soon exited the game with a left groin injury that may send him to the injured list.
Relief pitchers Zack Britton and Chapman blew leads in the eighth and ninth innings. Ottavino and Green nearly did the same in the 10th. The Twins showed the Yankees why they are on a pace to smash several home run records this season, clobbering four more, including Miguel Sano’s second home run of the night, a second-deck, two-run blast off Britton in the bottom of the eighth that gave Minnesota an 11-10 lead.
All of this madness, however, created the white-knuckled tension that allowed the game to become unforgettable.
“That’s one of those games, for being late July, we’ll probably be talking about for a long time,” Boone said.
“Even though it’s still July, it’s a postseason game right there,” said right fielder Aaron Judge, adding later about the Twins, “We’ll see them again down the road, for sure.”
During a topsy-turvy ninth inning, John Sterling, the longtime radio voice of the Yankees, said on the air, “I have proclaimed this the greatest game of the year.” David Cone, the pitcher turned broadcaster, said on television that the game needed a Xanax.
After Sano put the Twins ahead in the eighth, Hicks did the same for the Yankees in the ninth. But in the bottom half of the inning, Chapman walked the first three batters he faced and blew his third save this month by allowing a game-tying sacrifice fly to Jorge Polanco. Boone stuck with Chapman despite his inability to throw strikes, and Chapman eventually completed the inning.