The Yankees looked differently, played differently and found a different result against a club that sure felt familiar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it was a lineup that looked far more whole, even without Aaron Judge. Trent Grisham immediately announced his return from the injured list by stroking a leadoff home run while Ryan McMahon doubled and fought for a nine-pitch walk. The two, who had been sidelined during the entirety of the club\u2019s slide, played a part in four of the team\u2019s five runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it was the passing storm with heavy winds and a sky that opened up after the top of the third, the downpour perhaps washing away the slop and grime that the Yankees had not been able to shake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it was Gerrit Cole, one of the game\u2019s great competitors, trading in gas for guts to bridge a 53-minute rain delay and find a way to grind through five solid innings. Or maybe it was simply an opponent that seems always willing to take a punch when the Yankees\u2019 right hook needs work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whatever the cause, the Yankees looked more like the Yankees in snapping a season-worst, seven-game skid by quieting the Twins, 5-2, on Friday night in front of 45,104, many of whom brushed off the rain and remained on a fireworks night in The Bronx.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a rut,\u201d said Cole, who managed to take down five innings while allowing two runs despite the lengthy delay. \u201cWe needed this one today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) walks off the mound after ending the fourth inning on July 3, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
The Yankees (49-38) recorded their first victory since June 24, halting the hard-to-fathom skid by scoring their most runs since June 19 \u2014 they had not even plated five runs in 12 straight contests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the entirety of that slide, the Yankees were without Grisham, who missed three weeks with a hamstring strain. He returned to center and to the top of the order, stepping up in the first inning and authoring what manager Aaron Boone called \u201ca classic Grish at-bat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He went down, 1-2, worked the count full, and then turned on a middle-of-the-plate changeup and smacked it to the second deck in right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham (12) hit a solo home run to start the first inning. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
This despite just a one-game rehab assignment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like I never left,\u201d said Grisham, who had helplessly watched the club spiral without him. \u201cWhich is surprising \u2014 I thought I was going to have to find it a little bit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
McMahon, himself back from a throat infection, returned to third base \u2014 making a smooth play to help Fernando Cruz escape a jam in the eighth \u2014 and pushed Jos\u00e9 Caballero back to his natural shortstop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lightning strikes during a rain delay in the third inning at Yankee Stadium.
\n Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
A defense that had contributed to a stunning 17 unearned runs during the skid looked far more buttoned up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn what\u2019s been a tough week for us, to be able to go out there and play a complete game,\u201d Boone said. \u201cThat one feels good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Ben Rice, who had gone 2-for-25 during the slide, followed up a Grisham single in the third inning by cracking his 24th home run of the season, this one pulled into the short porch, for a go-ahead, two-run shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Yankees gained separation in the seventh, when McMahon doubled and scored on a knock from Caballero, who then came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Grisham.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On a day of returns, Cole, too, returned to form. After a pair of duds, the ace allowed just a first-inning home run to Kody Clemens and a well-placed RBI single from Victor Caratini in the fourth, an inning in which Cole\u2019s sheer presence on the mound impressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tYankees Merch Shop\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tNew York Post receives revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and when you make a purchase.\t\t<\/p>\n
During the delay, he had gotten up to throw approximated innings \u2014 8-15 pitches every 10 minutes to ensure he would be ready to take the mound \u2014 then talked Boone into allowing him to return for the fifth inning, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cole, plus Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn, Cruz and David Bednar (17th save), helped toppled a club that is a perpetual pushover around these parts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Yankees are now 112-44 against Minnesota since 2002 (128-46 if you include the postseason), which is the majors\u2019 best record for one team against another in the span.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ben Rice celebrates his two-run homer. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
The onslaught has been unabated despite the Twins making the playoffs for 10 of those seasons, a perfectly fine team against any opponent that isn\u2019t wearing pinstripes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whatever the cause, the skid is over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everyone was ready to turn the corner,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Yankees looked differently, played differently and found a different result against a club that sure felt familiar.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48671,22383,16861,20,9,11,10,321,319,5390],"class_list":["post-286521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-ben-rice","tag-gerrit-cole","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports","tag-trent-grisham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}