The Twins and Target Field were all rooting for Carl Pavano to turn in a brisk top of the seventh to carry on the momentum. Instead, the opposite has happened - Pavano ran into trouble, and a makeshift coaching staff has had to call on the bullpen to keep a dangerous situation from exploding.
Pavano walked Jorge Posada to lead off, and he then allowed a deep double to center field off the bat of Lance Berkman to drive in a run. It was a moment not without its controversy, as he threw Berkman a 1-2 fastball that appeared to clip the inside corner of the zone:
Hunter Wendelstedt called it a ball - as he's been doing all game long - and Berkman sent the very next pitch off the fence. It was at that point that Ron Gardenhire came out of the dugout to speak his mind, and within seconds he'd been ejected from the game for arguing an umpire decision, just as Joe Maddon was during a critical inning earlier Thursday afternoon.
After the double and the ejection, Brett Gardner laid down a perfect bunt single, and Derek Jeter followed that by dropping a base hit in front of a diving Jason Kubel in right field to drive in another run. That was enough to spur the Twins to call on some relief, and Pavano handed the ball to Jose Mijares and walked off the field having seen the Yankees go ahead 4-2.
Pavano's day:
6 innings
11 baserunners
1 walk
3 strikeouts
93 pitches
Once the Yankees started taking aggressive swings, Pavano seemed to be on the ropes. The Twins now need to keep the Yankees where they are and mount a comeback off the middle relief before Mariano Rivera comes in for the second night in a row.
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