The seemingly impossible happened on Wednesday night in the Bronx.
The Yankees lost a game to the Minnesota Twins.
Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat marked a rare blip in the Yankees’ two-plus decades of head-to-head dominance. It snapped the Yankees’ nine-game winning streak over Minnesota and dropped their head-to-head record against the Twins to 125-45 since 2002.
After rain delayed the start of the game by an hour and 52 minutes, Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler hurled five strong innings.
But the Twins pulled ahead as soon as he left the game to begin the sixth.
The score was tied, 1-1, when reliever Yerry De los Santos replaced Schlittler, who had thrown 86 pitches.
Anthony Volpe nearly robbed Byron Buxton of a leadoff single by gloving a hotshot to shortstop, but first baseman Ben Rice failed to scoop Volpe’s throw.
Luke Keaschall followed with a slow-rolling infield single down the third-base line, and both baserunners scored when Kody Clemens lined a double into the right-center gap.
Clemens — the son of Roger Clemens — advanced to third on that play on a fielding error by center fielder Trent Grisham. Two batters later, Royce Lewis poked an RBI bloop double against Mark Leiter Jr. into left field to score Clemens, giving the Twins a 4-1 lead.
Schlittler limited the Twins to two hits and two walks, but he needed 53 pitches to get through his final two frames. The heart of the Twins’ order was coming up for a third time when manager Aaron Boone removed Schlittler.
De los Santos entered with a 1.57 ERA, but after surrendering three runs without recording an out, he ended the night with a 2.51 ERA.
The defeat spoiled a strong effort by Schlittler, who struck out six over his five innings of one-run ball.
Leaning primarily on a fastball he dialed up to 100 mph, Schlittler retired the Twins’ first nine batters and needed only 33 pitches to do so.
But Minnesota made Schlittler work in the fourth, as Trevor Larnach drew a leadoff walk and Byron Buxton followed with a double on the 10th pitch of the at-bat.
Buxton’s double was the Twins’ first hit since Austin Martin led off Tuesday’s game with a single. The Twins made 36 outs — the equivalent of 12 innings — in between hits.
Schlittler limited the damage from there, holding the Twins to an RBI groundout by Keaschall that tied the score, 1-1, before he tossed a scoreless fifth.
It was the first time in six career starts that Schlittler, 24, gave up fewer than two runs. He allowed two hits and two walks and lowered his ERA to 3.94.
“I don’t think he has to learn that he can get these guys out,” Boone said before Wednesday’s game. “I think he knows and believes he can. I’ve seen a guy that’s kind of fearless and gets a little frustrated when he doesn’t execute at the level he expects. But I think so far, it’s been a good start … and we need him.”
The Yankees’ offense, meanwhile, was largely stifled by Twins ace Joe Ryan, who held them to one run — a third-inning solo homer by Cody Bellinger — over 6.2 innings and struck out seven.
The Twins broke up their team before last month’s trade deadline with a historic fire sale, shipping away 10 major-league players, including star infielder Carlos Correa and the bulk of their bullpen.
But they held onto Ryan, who improved to 12-5 with a 2.72 ERA on Wednesday.
With two outs in the seventh, left-hander Kody Funderburk replaced Ryan with a runner on third. But Paul Goldschmidt — who is hitting .404 with a 1.191 OPS against left-handers — did not enter as a pinch hitter, and lefty-swinging Austin Wells was called out on strikes.
The loss denied the Yankees (64-57) a sweep of the Twins (57-63), whom they defeated decisively on Monday and Tuesday night. Those wins gave the Yankees their first series victory since they took three of four from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Bronx late last month.
Wednesday’s loss capped a 3-3 homestand for the Yankees, who maintained their one-game lead for the third and final American League wild card spot because the Cleveland Guardians also lost Wednesday to the Miami Marlins.
The Yankees are off on Thursday, then begin a five-game road trip, starting on Friday night against the Cardinals in St. Louis.
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