Twins crush Yankees 7-0 as division dreams slip away

Minnesota—The Yankees were embarrassed 7-0 by the Twins, and their chances of winning the AL East are essentially gone. Carlos Rondon got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Simeon Woods Richardson.

Aaron Judge worked a two-out walk in the top of the first inning, but that would be all for the Yankees. 

Rodon worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 bottom of the first inning on 13 pitches. 

In the bottom of the third inning, the Twins scored, making it a 1-0 game due to a couple of fielding mistakes by José Caballero, who failed to field a ball cleanly and took his time on a double play ball. 

Caballero lined a one-out double into the left field corner in the top of the fifth inning, but then got picked off. 

Brooks Lee launched a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 2-0 ballgame. 

Judge worked a one-out walk in the top of the sixth inning, then Woods Richardson recorded strikeout numbers 10 and 11 on the game to strand Judge, as the Yankees are making him look like prime Randy Johnson.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Rodon faced the minimum thanks to a strike 'em out throw 'em out double play to end the frame. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr., Paul Goldschmidt, and Ryan McMahon went down in order for the Yankees in the top of the seventh inning. 

Luke Weaver took over for Rodon on the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning and served up a back-to-back doubles, including an RBI double to Lee to extend the Twins' lead to 3-0. Weaver then walked back to back batters to load the bases, then served up a bases-clearing double to Austin Martin to make it a 6-0 game. Camilo Doval replaced Weaver on the mound and served up an RBI single to Luke Keaschall. 

Carlos Rodon's final line: Six innings pitched, five hits allowed, two earned runs, one walk, eight swings and misses, and four strikeouts on eight pitches. Rodon threw his fastball 47% of the time, the slider 21%, the sinker 17%, and the changeup 15% of the time. Rodon put together a nice quality start tonight, but unfortunately got zero run support from the Yankees' offense. 

Judge and Trent Grisham worked a couple of two-out walks in the top of the eighth inning, but that would be all for the Yankees. 

Tim Hill replaced Doval on the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning and retired the Twins in order. 

In the top of the ninth inning the Yankees went down with out a fight at all to end this one 7-0, might be the most embarrassing loss of the year. 

The Yankees will look to bounce back tomorrow with Cam Schlittler on the mound, facing off against Zebby Matthews. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Just a pitiful game from the Yankees in almost every way possible. Rodon was solid, but that was about the only positive from tonight. The Blue Jays also won tonight, so the Yankees can kiss goodbye any chance they ever had of winning the AL East, as they at one point had a 7.5 game lead over the Jays and are now five games back with 12 games to play. The offense did just about nothing, with only two hits on the night. Weaver also looked brutal tonight, giving up five runs; he needs to figure it out if the Yankees want any chance of going on a run in October. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to bounce back. Sorry, no quotes tonight.