Despite Byron Buxton injury, Twins win first series at Yankee Stadium in 12 years

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jul 5, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK – For the first time in 12 years, the Minnesota Twins achieved a feat none of their previous teams could accomplish: They won a series at Yankee Stadium.

For so long, the Twins have been the punchline when they entered town. Their 6-31 record at Yankee Stadium over the last dozen years, which included a playoff series, was a different level of absurdity. Good Twins teams, bad Twins teams all suffered the same fate.

On Sunday came the unthinkable. The Twins, who lost All-Star center fielder Byron Buxton to an injury in the first inning, clinched a series victory with a 6-1 win behind seven scoreless innings from All-Star starting pitcher Joe Ryan.

They took two of three games in the Bronx this weekend, their sixth series victory in their last seven series. The Twins have a 9-3 record over their last 12 road games.

Ryan showed why he was selected for the All-Star team for a second consecutive season. He tied his season high with nine strikeouts while permitting only three hits and one walk. The Yankees, who have lost nine of their last 10 games, had only one baserunner reach second base and were booed several times by the announced crowd of 39,155.

Losing Buxton put a damper on the end of the Twins’ road trip. He aggravated his prior right hip injury, the team announced. Buxton returned Saturday after missing four games, after a magnetic resonance imaging exam on June 29 revealed a right hip impingement.

Austin Martin, who hadn’t taken an at-bat in five days, opened with a double on the game’s first pitch. Buxton followed with an infield single, a comebacker to the mound that deflected off lefthander Ryan Weathers’ glove.

Buxton was running on two full-count pitches to Kody Clemens. The first pitch was fouled before the second one ended in a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play.

Buxton did not return afterward and was replaced by Kyler Fedko in center field. It was the first time Buxton was caught stealing since May 1, 2024, snapping a streak of 37 consecutive stolen bases by Buxton.

The last time Buxton was caught stealing, a similar situation where he ran on multiple full-count pitches, led to a stint on the injured list because of a knee injury.

The Twins, in their house of horrors, were not deterred. Josh Bell salvaged a run in the inning with an RBI single to right field, a ball that fell out of Max Schuemann’s glove as he collided with the wall.

In the fourth inning, Royce Lewis drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a one-out RBI single from Brooks Lee that blooped into left field.

From there, the Twins took advantage of the Yankees’ mistakes. Those words are almost never put in that order.

The Twins loaded the bases in the fifth inning through a hit batsman and two walks. Lewis delivered a two-out, two-run single on a ground ball up the middle, connecting on a sinker that caught too much of the plate from Yankees reliever Paul Blackburn for a 4-0 lead.

Brooks Lee hit a leadoff double in the sixth inning, Ryan Kreidler reached on an error and Luke Keaschall followed with a bunt single that he popped up to the left side of the infield. Martin drew a bases-loaded walk and Clemens drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

The Yankees scored a run in the ninth inning against reliever Yoendrys Gómez, spoiling a shutout.

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