NEW YORK — After nearly everything seemed stacked against the Yankees this season, the tide seems to have turned in their favor.
In their series opener against the Twins on Thursday, the legend of Bronx native Andrew Velazquez grew larger and backup catcher Kyle Higashioka provided the pop for the Yankees offense.
The Yankees' No. 7 and 8 hitters combined for four hits, 10 total bases, four runs and a stolen base to help them jump out to a six-run lead through four innings. They needed nearly all of that run support.
The lift from Velazquez and Higashioka helped the Yankees build a big enough lead to notch their seventh straight victory, defeating the Twins, 7-4, in the teams' series opener in front of 30,019 fans at Yankee Stadium.
The winning streak is the Yankees' longest of the season as they moved to 70-52 on the season. They remained one game ahead of both the Athletics and Red Sox in the American League Wild Card race and remained five back of the Rays in the AL East after they defeated the Orioles, 7-2 ,in a Thursday matinee.
Luke Voit made manager Aaron Boone's decision to move him to the leadoff spot look good in the bottom of the third with a two-run double down the left-field line that made it 3-0. Anthony Rizzo tacked on another run as part of a four-run inning with a sacrifice fly.
The Twins offense began to simmer against Jameson Taillon in the top of the sixth, with a solo home run by Jake Cave and two-run double by Jorge Polanco.
Polanco made things a little more interesting with an RBI single up the middle in the top of the eighth off Zack Britton to make it 6-4.
But Giancarlo Stanton cracked the Twins momentum with a solo home run — his 20th of the season — to right field in the next half inning.
Bottom belting
The bottom of the Yankees lineup was there to pack a punch on Thursday.
Velazquez continued to make the most of his time with his hometown team. He got the team's offense into gear off Twins starter John Gant in the bottom of the third on a triple past a diving Nick Gordon in the right-center field gap. He came around to score on an RBI double by Higashioka.
One inning later with the Yankees leading 4-0, Velazquez collected a hit that careened off the leg of Twins reliever Danny Coulombe. Higashioka cashed in with a two-run home run inside the left-field foul pole that made it 6-0.
Higashioka was 2-of-3 with a home run, double, three RBIs and two runs, while Velazquez was 2-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base.
Voit, Stanton and Joey Gallo were the only other Yankees to collect hits in the win. Gallo knocked a two-out double to right in the bottom of the fifth.
Taillon loses steam
Things unraveled quickly for Jameson Taillon.
For five innings, he looked nearly unhittable. Then, he looked anything but in the top of the sixth.
He allowed just one hit in the first five innings — a bloop single to Jorge Polanco in the first inning that was canceled out when Higashioka threw him out attempting to steal.
The 29-year-old righty sent down the next 14 in order with five strikeouts.
But in the top of the sixth, he gave up a solo home run to Jake Cave, followed up by a single by Andrelton Simmons and back-to-back doubles by Max Kepler and Polanco which made it 6-3.
Taillon was pulled in favor of Wandy Peralta after throwing just 81 pitches in 5⅓ innings. The big lead still enabled Taillon to improve his record to 8-4 on the season.
Uneven bullpen
Peralta picked up Taillon with a perfect 1⅔ innings inlcuding a strikeout, but the Yankees' next two arms allowed the Twins to stay within reach.
Britton allowed a one-out infield single to Andrelton Simmons and an RBI single to Polanco in the eighth that cut the Yankees' advantage to 6-4.
After Stanton's home run, Chad Green came on for the save and gave up a solo home run to Miguel Sano.
It was only the second earned run that Green has given up in his last eight games. He ended up nailing down his sixth save of the season with strikeouts of Brent Rooker and Ryan Jeffers.
