MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees finished a 12-game gauntlet against playoff contenders late Sunday night and then flew here to face what has been their perennial punching bag, even when they have not been one of the worst teams in the league.
Classic trap game.
Whether or not the Yankees were feeling an emotional and/or physical letdown, they played like it as they mustered just two hits and their bullpen blew open another game late in a 7-0 loss to the Twins on Monday night at Target Field.
The dud inched the Yankees (83-67) closer to bowing out of the division race, now trailing the Blue Jays (who own the head-to-head tiebreaker) by five games with 12 to play.
While they are still mathematically alive, the wild card is looking more realistic, as they now lead the Red Sox by one game for the top spot.
Entering Monday, the Yankees were 109-43 against the Twins (66-84) since 2002, the majors’ best record by any team versus an opponent in its own league during that span. If you add in the postseason, the Yankees were 125-45 against the Twins in that time.
That made this part of the schedule look like a soft landing spot after going 7-5 against the Astros, Blue Jays, Tigers and Red Sox.
But Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson, a former Mets prospect, proved to be too much for them to handle as he racked up a career-high 11 strikeouts across six innings. It came on the heels of Red Sox lefty Garrett Crochet punching out 12 Yankees on Sunday.
Carlos Rodón, the most well-rested Yankee after flying here ahead of the team on Sunday while the rest of his teammates got to their hotels in the middle of the night, was solid across six innings of two-run ball, but did not get much help from his batting lineup or fielders.
Then Luke Weaver entered for the seventh and essentially ended any chance of the Yankees coming back.
He got tagged for five runs on three hits and two walks while recording just one out, the fourth time in his past six appearances he has given up at least one run. The punishing blow in this one was Austin Martin’s bases-clearing double — after Weaver got ahead 0-2, then fell to 3-2 — that put the Twins ahead 6-0.
José Caballero, starting his sixth straight game at shortstop, had a tough night, making a pair of misplays in the field and also getting picked off after doubling with one out in the fifth inning.
Giancarlo Stanton, meanwhile, struck out in all four at-bats and is batting 6-for-51 (.118) with three home runs and 27 strikeouts over his past 15 games.
Rodón cruised through the first two innings before his defense let him down in the third. He gave up a leadoff double to Jhonny Pereda before No. 9 hitter Edouard Julien ripped a ground ball up the middle. Caballero was shaded that way and got his glove on the ball behind the bag, but not cleanly enough as it got past him. Caballero tried to recover and fire to first, but it was not in time to nab Julien, putting runners on the corners.
After Rodón struck out Byron Buxton for the first out, Martin slashed a potential double play ball to shortstop. Caballero fielded it cleanly, but then took a few steps to second base before flipping to Jazz Chisholm Jr. The hesitation, along with a bouncing throw to first from Chisholm, allowed Martin to reach safely and drive in the first Twins run.
Rodón’s first pitch of the fifth inning was a 92 mph fastball down the middle to Brooks Lee, who drilled it just over the left field wall for a home run that made it a 2-0 game.
At one point, Woods Richardson struck out five straight Yankees — who were dissatisfied with the strike zone for much of the night — before Caballero roped a double to left field with one out in the fifth. But he was quickly eliminated, taking too big of a lead off second base and getting picked off for the second out with Austin Wells at the plate.
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