2017 American League Wild Card Game

The 2017 American League Wild Card Game was a play-in game during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2017 postseason that was played between the American League's (AL) two wild card teams, the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. The game was televised nationally by ESPN. The game took place on October 3 at Yankee Stadium, with the Yankees winning 8–4, thus eliminating the Twins from the postseason and advancing the Yankees to the AL Division Series (ALDS), in which they defeated the Cleveland Indians, 3–2.

2017 American League Wild Card Game

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Minnesota Twins 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 9 1 New York Yankees 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 x 8 9 0
Date	October 3, 2017
Venue	Yankee Stadium
City	The Bronx, New York
Managers	Paul Molitor (Minnesota Twins) Joe Girardi (New York Yankees)
Umpires	HP: Alfonso Márquez 1B: Mike Winters (crew chief) 2B: Eric Cooper 3B: Lance Barksdale LF: Tripp Gibson RF: John Tumpane[1]
Attendance	49,280
Ceremonial first pitch	Chasen Shreve[2][lower-alpha 1]
Television	ESPN
TV announcers	Dan Shulman, Jessica Mendoza, Aaron Boone, and Buster Olney
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton

Background

Main articles: 2017 New York Yankees season and 2017 Minnesota Twins season

This was Minnesota's first playoff appearance as a Wild Card team, and their first postseason appearance since the 2010 American League Division Series.[3] After clinching their spot, the Twins named Ervin Santana as their starting pitcher.[4] Miguel Sanó was left off of the roster because of his injured left shin.[5] The Twins had an 85–77 record and finished in second place in the AL Central, 17 games behind the Indians.[6]

This was New York's sixth playoff appearance as a Wild Card team, and their first postseason appearance since the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. Luis Severino started for the Yankees.[7] With a 91–71 record, the Yankees finished in second place in the AL East, two games behind the division-winning Red Sox.[6]

This was the fifth postseason meeting between the two clubs, with the Yankees winning all four previous series. Their most recent meeting was in the 2010 American League Division Series in which the Yankees swept the Twins in three games.[3] This loss also extended the Twins' postseason losing streak to 13 games; ten of those games were against the Yankees.

Game results

Line score

Tuesday, October 3, 2017 8:10 pm (EDT) at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York, 62 °F (17 °C), clear

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota Twins	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	9	1
New York Yankees	3	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	X	8	9	0
WP: David Robertson (1–0)   LP: José Berríos (0–1) Home runs: MIN: Brian Dozier (1), Eddie Rosario (1) NYY: Didi Gregorius (1), Brett Gardner (1), Aaron Judge (1) Attendance: 49,280 Boxscore

Starting lineups

Minnesota Twins[8] Brian Dozier, 2B Joe Mauer, 1B Jorge Polanco, SS Eddie Rosario, LF Eduardo Escobar, 3B Max Kepler, RF Byron Buxton, CF Jason Castro, C Robbie Grossman, DH Ervin Santana, SP

New York Yankees[9] Brett Gardner, LF Aaron Judge, RF Gary Sánchez, C Didi Gregorius, SS Starlin Castro, 2B Greg Bird, 1B Aaron Hicks, CF Jacoby Ellsbury, DH Todd Frazier, 3B Luis Severino, SP

Game summary

The Twins did not waste any time getting to Severino, with Brian Dozier hitting a leadoff home run. This was followed by a walk to Jorge Polanco and another home run, this one by Eddie Rosario, to put the Twins quickly up 3–0.[10] After allowing a single by Eduardo Escobar and a double by Max Kepler, Severino was relieved after only recording one out, marking the shortest appearance by a Yankees starting pitcher in postseason history.[11] Chad Green relieved Severino and recorded consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.[12] The Yankees quickly responded, however, tying the game in the bottom of the first inning on a three-run home run by Didi Gregorius as Twins starter Ervin Santana also struggled, throwing 41 pitches in the inning.[13][14] Brett Gardner's home run in the next inning gave the Yankees the lead. In the top of the third, after loading the bases with one out, Green was replaced by David Robertson. Robertson induced a potential double-play ground ball from Byron Buxton, but the Yankees weren't able to get the speedy Buxton out at first, allowing the Twins to tie the game at 4.[13]

José Berríos relieved Santana (who had thrown 64 pitches in the first two innings) to start the bottom of the third, and the Yankees quickly pounced on the right-hander. Gary Sánchez doubled to lead off the inning and later scored on an RBI single by Greg Bird to give the Yankees the lead.. In the bottom of the fourth, rookie sensation Aaron Judge hit a two-run home run to extend the Yankee lead to 7–4.[15] Tommy Kahnle relieved Robertson, who had thrown a career-high ​3 ¹⁄₃ innings, all scoreless, to finish the sixth inning and threw ​2 ¹⁄₃ shutout innings of his own.[13] In the bottom of the seventh, a two-out bases-loaded walk to Aaron Hicks further extended the Yankees' lead to 8–4.[13] Closer Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation for the Yankees to end the game and advance the Yankees to the ALDS.[16]

Notes

1. The game took place two days after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting; Shreve, a native of Las Vegas, was selected to throw the ceremonial first pitch.

References

1. "MLB playoffs: Umpires for wild-card games, AL and NL Division Series announced". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo Sports. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
2. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36752403/national_anthem/
3. Kilinski, Fran. "A look at the history of the Yankees-Twins playoff matchup". NY Daily News. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
4. "Twins' Ervin Santana: Named as wild-card game starter".
5. "Twins leave Miguel Sano off wild-card roster vs. Yankees". Twin Cities. October 3, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
6. "Regular Season Standings". Major League Baseball. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
7. Martin, Dan (January 1, 1970). "Luis Severino 'confident' on big stage despite lack of experience". Nypost.com. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
8. Minnesota Twins (May 11, 2009). "Minnesota Twins on Twitter: "Tonight's #MNTwins lineup! #WereGonna"". Twitter.com. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
9. https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/10/03/new-york-yankees-wild-card-game-roster-lineup
10. Adler, David. "Twins strike first as Dozier, Rosario go deep". MLB.com. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
11. "Luis Severino roughed up in AL Wild Card Game". Major League Baseball. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
12. Trezza, Joe. "Twins chase Severino after six batters". MLB.com. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
13. Hoffman, Benjamin (October 3, 2017). "M.L.B. Playoffs: How the Yankees Beat the Twins in the Wild-Card Game". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
14. Bumbaca, Chris. "Gregorius hits tying homer in wild first inning". MLB.com. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
15. Trezza, Joe. "Judge goes deep in first postseason game". MLB.com. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
16. Hoffman, Benjamin (October 3, 2017). "M.L.B. Playoffs: How the Yankees Beat the Twins in the Wild-Card Game". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 6, 2017.

External links

• 2017 Major League Baseball postseason schedule