NEW YORK YANKEES (90-65) at MINNESOTA TWINS (65-91)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2012 – TARGET FIELD – MINNEAPOLIS, MN

WINNING PITCHER: Sabathia (14-6, 3.42)

LOSING PITCHER: Duensing (4-11, 5.15)

SAVE: None

FIRST PITCH: 12:10 pm              GAME TIME TEMP: 59                      TIME OF GAME: 2:54                     ATTENDANCE: 33,251

HOME RUNS: Dickerson (2, sixth inning, one on, one out, 1-0 pitch, 398 feet to right field)

PITCHING LINES:

YANKEES NOTES:

• ·    The Yankees won their sixth consecutive season series against the Twins (the two teams tied 3-3 in 2006).
• ·    The Yankees finished 4-3 against the Twins this season…they have now won seven of their last 10 regular season games at Target Field and are now 10-3 in their last 13 at Minnesota.
• ·    The Yankees reached 90 wins for the 11^th time in their last 12 seasons and 15^th time in their last 17 seasons (since 1996).
• ·    CC Sabathia snapped his three-game losing streak, winning for the first time since August 24 at Cleveland.
• ·    Sabathia improved to 10-0, 1.96 (78.0 ip, 17 er) in his last 11 regular season and postseason starts combined, against the Twins…he has allowed three earned runs-or-fewer in each of those…Sabathia became just the second starter in baseball to strikeout 10-plus Twins in an outing, Scherzer being the other, August 15.
• ·    Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 10 games, batting .487 (19-for-39) in that span…he is hitting .328 (64-for-195) since joining the Yankees.
• ·    Nick Swisher has hit safely in nine straight games, batting .353 (12-for-34) with four home runs and 12 rbi in that span…he has seven rbi in his last four games, including five in this series.
• ·    Raul Ibanez hit his 396^th double in the sixth inning, moving him within four of reaching 400 doubles for his career.
• ·    The Yankees are now 31-14 since 2011 in games in which they opposed a starting pitcher who they are facing for the first time (Elias)…they beat Hendriks on Monday and Deduno today…they are 14-9 in such instances this season.

TWINS NOTES: ­

• ·    The Twins are now 30-48 at Target Field this season…they have three more home games remaining this season.
• ·    Samuel Deduno left today’s game after 1.2 innings pitched with left eye irritation.
• ·    Brian Duensing allowed six runs in relief, tying Jared Burton (August 23 at Texas) for the most by a Twins reliever in one outing this season.
• ·    The six runs allowed in the third inning tied a season-high, done five times previously.
• ·    Alexi Casilla had two hits in three at-bats off Sabathia today, making him 12-for-21 (.571) off the left-handed for his career…his .571 batting average is the highest in all of baseball for any player with at least 15 career at-bats off Sabathia.
• ·    Jamey Carroll (1-for-2) is hitting .379 (22-for-58) in 16 games this month…he entered today third in the AL in September batting average.
• ·    Chris Herrmann recorded his first Major League hit with an infield single to shortstop in the ninth inning…it was his 11^th plate appearance.
• ·    Joe Mauer went 0-for-4, lowering his season average to .323…AL batting leaguer Miguel Cabrera faces Kansas City (Jeremy Guthrie) at 6:05 tonight.