Whitley's Struggles Backed Up By Offense in 6-5 Win Over Twins

For the last couple of weeks, it's no secret that the Yankees' offense has been pretty terrible. 

The expensive bats, who scored 5+ runs just once this week prior to last night, have four big names hitting in the .220 range, a stat that simply shouldn't be there.

Fortunetaly, so far in Minnesota those guys and others are beginning to pick things up, crossing home six times in the first two innings today as the Yanks beat the Twins 6-5.

In the top of the first, after Brett Gardner led off with a triple, the Bombers took an early lead off opposing starter Kyle Gibson (2 IP, 6 ER), crossing home three times thanks to a pair of RBI Doubles from Brian Roberts and Mark Teixeira as well as a Sac Fly from Carlos Beltran.

In the very next frame, three more runs would also come in for the suddenly-hot Pinstripes on another Sac Fly from Brendan Ryan and a two-run single from Jacoby Ellsbury, making it 6-1 and appearing to hand Chase Whitley a free W.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case, as the rookie would allow three guys to score in the next two frames to end his day after just nine outs.

At that point, what looked like a laugher was suddenly close, although it wasn't exactly stressful, as David Huff would retire each of the nine guys he faced in innings 4-6 to keep the Yanks ahead.

Later on in the bottom of the eighth, as expected, somebody (this time Dellin Betances) did have some issues, putting the tying runs in scoring position with just one out.

Still, that somebody did eventually escape the jam, inducing a duo of groundouts (one of them did bring a run in) that kept the Yanks ahead and allowed David Robertson to collect a save in the ninth.

No, Robertson's performance wasn't perfect, but in the end, it was good enough to maintain the lead, the 20th time this season that has been the case.