NEW YORK -- If there was a spot for a designated pitcher against the Yankees, Scott Baker certainly would be the Twins' choice.
Making his second start against New York this season, Baker made this outing nearly as good as the first, holding the notoriously difficult Yankees lineup in check to help lead the Twins to a 6-1 victory on Saturday afternoon in a rain-shortened contest at Yankee Stadium.
Despite a game playing in pouring rain and swirling winds, which ultimately caused the game to be called with one Yankee on base in the bottom of the eighth, Baker was able to deliver. Baker (4-7) held New York to just one run on two hits over five innings, with three walks and four strikeouts.
Baker has taken the success he's had against the Yankees in stride, even laughing at the thought of being the pitcher to shut this team down.
"That's never a bad thing to do good against those guys," Baker said with a smile.
Though the tough conditions were enough to put even Baker on alert, the wind actually seemed to play in his favor.
New York hit quite a few balls hard early in the game, like Robinson Cano's fly to right in the second inning, but the wind decided to play its fair share of tricks.
The swirling gusts played a factor in the Twins' first-inning run against Yankees starter Jeff Karstens. Luis Rodriguez singled to center before advancing to third on a Joe Mauer single to right field. Karstens (1-1) then gave up a sacrifice fly to Michael Cuddyer that landed in short right field, scoring Rodriguez from third for a 1-0 lead.
"I don't know if Michael Cuddyer could hit a shorter sacrifice fly in baseball," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said with a chuckle. "I think he was pretty excited about that RBI."
With the wind blowing in from left field, it appeared impossible to hit one over the fence in that direction. But Torii Hunter somehow found a way around the wind for a solo shot in the fourth inning. The homer gave the Twins a lead after Derek Jeter had knotted the game up earlier in the inning with an RBI double.
It was in the bottom of that same inning that the Yankees looked as if they might tie the game once again, as Alex Rodriguez blasted a shot to center field that was held up in the wind and died on the warning track. It surprised Rodriguez, who shook his head, and all Hunter could do in center was to say, "Wow."
"If A-Rod can't hit through the wind, then I must be lucky," Hunter said of his homer. "Because that ball he hit should have been a home run -- any other day, it's a bomb."
The only other ball that sailed out of the park came in the eighth, when Justin Morneau delivered a low line drive to left field.
This home run came off left-hander reliever Ron Villone, who accidentally hit Morneau in the head on April 6 at Seattle last year. That plunking forced Morneau to spend one night in the hospital and then two weeks on the DL. Morneau had not faced Villone since.
"That was nice," Morneau said.
The Twins trail the White Sox for the American League Wild Card lead by just a half-game, with Chicago yet to play a night contest in Kansas City on Saturday.
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