Entering play on Wednesday, the 2022 Yankees had been a bulldozer en route to a 40-15 record. In every single one of those 55 games, they’d either won or been close enough in those rare losses to be within shouting distance. Indeed, even in the two five-run L’s — their previous season-worst margin of defeat — they held the opposing team scoreless into the eighth. They hadn’t gotten their asses kicked since 2021.
Well, all good things must come to an end, and all good baseball teams must eventually get their asses kicked. The previously masterful Nestor Cortes had his worst start of the season, the offense managed just four hits, and the Twins beat the Yankees, 8-1, to snap New York’s seven-game winning streak.