The Minnesota Twins have a painful playoff history against the New York Yankees. From 2003-2010, the Twins made the postseason five times in eight years. Four of those five seasons, they lost to the Yankees in the ALDS. They never won more than one game in any of those series, being swept twice. Tonight, the Twins are in Yankee Stadium, seeking some revenge in the AL Wild Card one-game playoff, and leadoff man Brian Dozier gave them as good a start as they could hope for.

Dozier has a lot of pop, bashing 34 homers this year after hitting 42 last season, and when Luis Severino left a 3-1 fastball up and out over the plate, Dozier made him pay:

This is the second MLB postseason game in a row to feature a leadoff home run; the last one, of course, was Dexter Fowler’s center field bomb to lead off game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

Then, a few batters later, this happened:

After allowing another man to reach, Luis Severino gave up another hit, and having thown 29 pitches to get just one out, the Yankees season in the balance, Joe Girardi had seen enough:

The Yankees would escape the inning having given up just those three runs, and with their bullpen, they’re equipped to make it through what amounts to a complete pen game. But having spotted the Twins three runs already, if they’re going to advance to the ALDS, they’re going to have to do it in comeback fashion.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.