Recap: Yankees 4, Twins 3

Greg Bird hit a pair of two-run homers and the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Twins,
4-3, on Wednesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Bird is the Word: The surging rookie clubbed a no-doubter to right in the fourth to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead, but perhaps his best highlight of the day came later on. Facing Ervin Santana with the Yanks trailing 3-2 in the sixth, Bird lined another one into the New York bullpen to re-take the advantage -- earning himself a curtain call and unsurprisingly upsetting the Twins' starter.

Lucky Number 13: It might be hard to believe considering he had just 15 in his career prior to the season, but Nathan Eovaldi's win count has reached a baker's dozen. Not in a spectacular way, admittedly -- Eovaldi yielded three earned runs on four hits over seven innings -- but as usual, the righty was good enough.

A Couple of Costly Mistakes: In fact, Eovaldi was perfect through 16 batters, but his chance for a gem disappeared after a rough top of the sixth. Eovaldi walked two and allowed each of the Twins' three runs in that frame, Joe Mauer and Trevor Plouffe having done damage with a two-run single and a bases-loaded infield knock, respectively.

More Help From the Bullpen: Eovaldi's one bad inning indeed made things interesting, but truthfully, the Yankees were still heavy favorites once their bullpen entered the contest. Granted, the team was without two of its better arms in Andrew Miller and Justin Wilson, but with Chasen Shreve and Dellin Betances ready to go instead, the Yankees were nonetheless able to get the final six outs.

That's a lot of K's: Speaking of Betances, how many strikeouts do you think he has right now? 80? 90? Nope, try 101. That's just 34 off his total from last year, and we're only in mid-August.

Next Up: The Yankees will look to continue riding high when they kickoff a home series with the Indians on Thursday night, sending the confident Ivan Nova (5-4, 3.57 ERA) to the mound versus Cleveland's Josh Tomlin (0-1, 2.84 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET, with YES and WFAN calling the action.