MINNEAPOLIS — Even when the Yankees get four extra base hits from one player and score six runs in the opening two innings, they can’t avoid sweating for a win.
Brian Roberts delivered three doubles and a triple in his first four at-bats and the Yankees scored six times in the first two frames off Kyle Gibson, but they still had to hang on for a Fourth of July 6-5 victory over the Twins in front of 36,952 at Target Field.
Thanks to Chase Whitley’s third ineffective start and a lineup that didn’t score and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position across the final seven innings, a possible laugher never developed.
Yet, because David Huff, Adam Warren, Dellin Betances and David Robertson provided six innings of one-run relief, the Yankees were able to bag a second straight victory after losing five in a row.
The Yankees are now three games back of the first-place Orioles, whose game against the Red Sox was postponed, and moved a game closer to the second-place Blue Jays, who fell 1-0 to the Athletics in 12 innings.
“A win is always good, we needed a win,’’ said Roberts, who has 14 career four-hit games after his since August 14, 2009. “Anytime you feel like you are contributing it’s always good, one hit or four hits. It was a fun game to be part of. I always love July 4 weekends, to me they are always great atmospheres and it was a great game.’’
Roberts doubled home Brett Gardner in the first and then scored. He doubled and scored in the second, tripled in the fourth and doubled in the seventh. He flied out in the ninth, denying him his first-ever five-hit game. It was the first time Roberts had four extra base hits in a game.
Jacoby Ellsbury’s two-out, two-run single in the second upped the Yankees’ lead to 6-1 and threatened to turn it into a much-needed laugher. Instead, Samuel Deduno replaced Gibson and blanked the Yankees in 4 ²/₃ innings.
Whitley allowed a run in the first when leadoff hitter Brian Dozier homered and another in the second when Chris Colabello opened with a homer. Two more runs in the third cut the Yankees’ advantage to 6-4 and made a game of it.
With Whitley gone after three innings, in which he gave up four runs and eight hits and did nothing to squash talk that his rotation spot is in jeopardy, Huff worked the next three frames and was perfect. Warren was next, followed by Betances — and that’s where it got interesting.
After giving up a run in the eighth that made it a one-run game, Betances needed Mark Teixeira to make a diving stop on Eduardo Escobar’s grounder to keep Oswaldo Arcia from scoring what would have been the tying run.
“It was a huge play or we are in a tied ballgame,’’ manager Joe Girardi said of Teixeira, who led Betances perfectly to the bag for the out.
And while Robertson struck out three to post his 20th save in 22 chances, the ninth wasn’t drama-free because Kurt Suzuki smoked a two-out double to left.
“The last thing I wanted to do was get a runner in scoring position,’’ said Robertson, who responded by striking out Chris Parmelee looking to end to end a game that was much harder than it had to be mainly because Whitley couldn’t handle prosperity and now will hear that Huff could take his place in the rotation.