The New York Yankees host the Minnesota Twins Tuesday in the second game of a four-game series. The Yankees lead the AL East while the Twins are in a dogfight as they battle for the top spot in the AL Central. The Yankees won the opener on Monday and lead the season series 3-1. Gerrit Cole (10-7) gets the start for the Yankees on Tuesday while Joe Ryan (10-7) takes the hill for Minnesota. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. at Yankee Stadium.
The Minnesota Twins dropped to 68-65 with a 5-2 loss to the Yankees. They fell a half game behind Cleveland in the AL Central with the Guardians playing Monday night. In the 5-2 loss on Monday, Trevor Megill took the loss in relief of Chris Archer. Gary Sanchez hit a two-run homer. The Twins average 4.42 runs per game, which ranks 15th in league. They are 12th in team batting average, 11th in home runs, and 10th in slugging percentage. Luis Arraez leads the Twins batting .317 with 8 home runs and 45 RBI while Carlos Correa is hitting .270 with 16 home runs and 47 RBI. They miss slugger Byron Buxton, who is out with a hip injury.
Joe Ryan gets the start for the Twins on Tuesday. Ryan, a right-hander, is 10-7 on the season with a 3.88 ERA in 22 starts. He has 121 strikeouts and 35 walks in 118.1 innings pitched. Ryan lost to the Red Sox in his last start, giving up 5 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings with 8 strikeouts and 1 w alk. This is Ryan's first career appearance against the Yankees. The Twins have a team ERA of 3.97, which is 18th in baseball. The bullpen has an ERA of 3.85, which ranks 18th in the majors.