Grisham's two-homer night lifts Yankees past Twins, tightens AL East hold

Trent Grisham hit two home runs as the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 10-5 in the series finale at Target Field on Wednesday, lifting him to 33 homers for the season. The win improved New York to 85-67 and, for the first time since Sept. 7, the Yankees gained ground on the Blue Jays, trimming their lead in the AL East to four games. New York remains the top wild-card team in the American League, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Houston Astros and two games ahead of the Boston Red Sox with 10 games left in the regular season.

Grisham's big night came after a mid-September slump; he had been 1-for-25 over eight games before homering Tuesday and then adding two more long balls on Wednesday. The two-homer performance marked a continued personal revival that has made him a central part of New York's lineup this season.

Twins jumped ahead 2-1 in the second inning, aided by a walk, an errant pickoff throw, two singles and a passed ball. Grisham tied the game in the third with a 432-foot homer to left-center. In the fourth, Paul Goldschmidt and Jasson Domínguez hit back-to-back doubles to push the Yankees in front 3-2, and Grisham followed with a three-run homer to make it 6-2.

Bellinger added insurance in the ninth with a two-run shot after Luis Gil's uneven start, and the Yankees benefited from a bullpen mix that included Cruz, who pitched a scoreless sixth. The Yankees jumped out to an early lead for the second straight night, this time off former Rays right-hander Taj Bradley. Aaron Judge went 3-for-4 with a walk and scored on Bellinger’s first-inning RBI single as New York opened the scoring.

Gil, coming off a dominant start earlier this season, struggled with command again and lasted 4 ²/₃ innings while yielding five runs (four earned) on a season-high nine hits and two walks. He departed with a 7-2 lead intact, but the Twins staged a late rally before Cruz recorded the final outs in the sixth. The bullpen then held the line as Camilo Doval closed out the bottom of the ninth.

The Yankees will now travel to Baltimore for a four-game set against the Orioles on Thursday night, continuing a 10-day, 10-game trip that has tested the club’s endurance. Manager Aaron Boone acknowledged the grind, saying simply that it is what it is and that everyone has to deal with it in some way, shape or form.

Gil’s rough night came after last month’s standout performance against the Red Sox, but he could not command the zone consistently on this evening. The Twins capitalized in the second, pulling within a run, but Grisham provided the kind of clutch power that has defined the outfielder’s season and kept New York on track for a postseason berth.

Meanwhile, Cody Bellinger’s 29th home run, a two-run shot in the ninth, gave the Yankees some insurance as the bullpen closed out the win. The 10-5 final left New York with a four-game cushion in the AL East over Toronto’s improving club and solidified their grip on the top AL wild-card spot, with 10 games still on the schedule.

Grisham’s breakout late-season surge has become a defining storyline for the Yankees. Since Aug. 20, he has hit more home runs than any other player in the majors (12), including eight in his past 19 games. On the night, he finished with two long balls to bring his total to 33 for the season and reminded observers why he has become a midseason catalyst for New York.

The Yankees are 10 games away from the end of the regular season, and the standings picture remains fluid in a tightly packed AL playoff race. The road trip notwithstanding, Grisham’s power surge and the renewed productivity from the middle of the order give New York a clearer path to the postseason, even as the schedule grows increasingly compressed and the stakes grow higher.