Robertson Surrenders 5 Ninth Inning Runs as Punch-Less Yankees Fall Again to Twins, 7-2

It's contests like today's that really make you question why you love the sport.

The Yankees, though terrible on offense, led 2-1 for pretty much all game, yet surrendered six ninth inning runs in an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Twins. 

For the first three frames, the Yanks didn't even get a hit off ex-teammate Phil Hughes (Win; 8 IP, 2 ER), yet rallied in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a lead-off triple from Brett Gardner, a pair of singles from Derek Jeter (RBI) and Jacoby Ellsbury, and a go-ahead sac fly from Ichiro.

From then on, the Bombers amazingly didn't even record a base runner, but due to 5 innings of one-run ball from Chase Whitley, a perfect six-out performance from Dellin Betances, and a scorless eighth from Adam Warren they were in good shape.

Or, at least they thought so.

Going into the top of the ninth, there was no reason to doubt that David Robertson would get the job done, a belief that now seems extremely misguided.

On the first pitch Robertson threw in the frame, Minnesota's Josh Willingham tied the contest with a homer to left, #30's second blown save in 14 opportunities this season.

At that point, things didn't look like they could get much worse for Mariano's successor, although they eventually did, as the Twins would tack on five more in the at-bat thanks to an RBI Double from Brian Dozier, a 2-run Double from Eduardo Nunez, and another 2-run hit from Oswaldo Arcia. 

Of those 6 runs, 5 were charged to Robertson, whose ERA has now skyrocketed from the low-twos to a terrible, 4.50.

As for his record, it obviously didn't get any better either, as it is now 0-2 while the team's in games started by Whitley is 3-1.

Three Home Runs Hurt Nuno, Yankees in 6-1 Loss to Twins

After taking two of three from the Cardinals earlier this week, the Yankees looked invincible.

The Bombers, who came into tonight's game against the Twins 4-1 over the last five days, had gotten the injured Mark Teixeira back in their lineup, to go along with a weak opposing starter in Ricky Nolasco.

Still, nothing went their way in the contest, causing them to fall in overall non-competitive fashion, 6-1.

For Yanks Pitcher Vidal Nuno, the game started out well, but with one out in the top of the second things began to fall apart.

At that time, Oswaldo Arcia homered on an 0-2 pitch, giving the Twins an early 1-0 lead.

It wouldn't last long, as Jacoby Ellsbury would tie the game in the bottom of the third with an RBI Double, but from then on it was all Minnesota.

To lead off the fourth, Josh Willingham homered to left-center, immediately followed by a bloop single from Arcia and another, two-run shot to Monument Park from Trevor Plouffe, quickly making it 4-1.

That would be all the Twins would get off Nuno on the night, although it was more than enough, knocking #57 out after 6.2 frames to drop his record to 1-2.

At that point, the game was over, although the Twins weren't quite done scoring yet, knocking in another two late off Preston Claiborne thanks to a duo of RBI Singles from former Yankee Eduardo Nunez and new Catcher Kurt Suzuki. 

Nunez, who was traded from the Bombers to Minnesota back in April, hit eighth and DH'd in this one, unsurprisingly not getting any cheers or jeers when he stepped up to the plate for the first time. Overall, Jeter's former replacement went 1-for-4 in the W, bringing his 2014 batting average down to a low .256.