Rodriguez Hits 3 Homers, Yankees Rally Past Perkins, Twins

New York is 12-4 this month, including 5-1 since the All-Star break, to open up a 5 1/2-game lead on the rest of the AL East. The Yankees are doing it mainly with strong starting pitching and are allowing an average of 2.7 runs since the break. As for the Minnesota Twins, they lost four games in a row before finally ending their losing streak against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Minnesota has won two straight following a four-game slide and has taken eight of nine at home.

He was dramatically outpitched by Phil Hughes, who spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Yankees before signing a free-agent deal with the Twins before the 2014 season. The Twins in turn are 52-44 overall and 32-16 at home.

“I plan on feeling good the rest of the year”, Sabathia said. “So I tried to incorporate more curveballs, changeups, cutters, anything I could to get them off balance”. “As the innings progressed, it seemed to be working pretty well”.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images Alex Rodriguez crushes three home runs, including the game-tying dinger in the ninth to power a Yankees comeback win.

Twins right fielder Torii Hunter had two hits, including a solo home run in the seventh inning. Hunter’s 208th homer as a Twin moved him ahead of Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett into sixth place on the club’s all-time list.

“If I turn it around, yeah”, Sabathia said. “I want to pitch good and help my team. It’s emotional”. A-Rod has homered three times in a game five different times and this was the first since he hit three at Kansas City on August 14, 2010. Plouffe finished a triple short of the cycle and scored two runs. After a brief conversation, manager Paul Molitor left Hughes in to face Jacoby Ellsbury, and he rewarded the faith by getting Ellsbury to pop out to left field to end the inning. Rosario had three hits. He struck out four and walked none, dropping to 1-4 in his last five decisions since June 22.

The Twins dispatched Pineda after 5 2/3 innings. “That’s going to happen when you make a mistake”. Sano gave the Twins a 2-0 lead Friday night with a two-run homer in the first inning.

Rosario was credited with a double after a popup into shallow left field bounced off the glove of Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius to lead off the second. His 424-foot homer in the ninth cleared the center field wall.

“(Pineda) made some mistakes with his fastball”, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. It was a combination of things. In that game, New York was the first to score.

Rodriguez has 23 homers this season and 677 in his career. They have one of the best in baseball and proved it against the Orioles. “We’ve been able to squash those (skids) out pretty early”.