NEW YORK – Big Mike was back. And he wanted to prove that he was all the way back.
Michael Pineda's nickname is Big Mike, and Sunday he pitched at Yankee Stadium for the first time since the 2017 season, one that ended with him having Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery.
"I felt excited," said Pineda, who signed with the Twins before the 2018 season, "but I tried to control my emotions and focus on my game; make good pitches. That was my focus today."
Pineda might have been able to control his emotions better than some of his pitches — because the Yankees bashed a few of his mistakes, enough for New York to carve out a rain-shortened 4-1 victory to take the rubber game of the three-game series.
The Twins had a couple of chances to tie the score late, but Max Kepler struck out against Tommy Kahnle with two runners on to end the seventh, then Marwin Gonzalez fanned on a changeup from Aroldis Chapman to strike out with two on in the eighth.
That was the Twins' last plate appearance. Storms hit during the start of the bottom of the inning, and the game was declared over following a delay of 61 minutes, a wet conclusion to the Twins' 15th loss in their past 17 games at Yankee Stadium.
New York's Domingo German went 6⅔ innings to improve to 6-1, tying for the major league lead in victories.
"We weren't able to score the runs today," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, "but we gave ourselves the opportunity to still be in the game, late in the game against a good team on a day where we probably didn't make things happen and swing the bats as well as we have."