MINNEAPOLIS — Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Beltran were the headliners Thursday night when the Yankees halted a season-high five-game losing streak.
Yet, there was Zelous Wheeler, a career minor leaguer playing in his first big league game with a wonderful performance in a supporting role that helped the Yankees top the Twins, 7-4, in front of 37,714 at Target Field.
The Twins, who have dropped eight of 10, and Phil Hughes were the perfect tonic for the reeling Yankees. Hughes, who beat his former team at Yankee Stadium June 1 with eight solid innings, was bitten by the same bug that haunted him in The Bronx: the home run.
Beltran slugged a three-run homer in the four-run fifth that erased a 2-0 Twins lead and Wheeler, elevated from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day to replace the frigid Yangervis Solarte, crushed a homer for his first big league hit in his second at-bat.
Wheeler (2-for-4) singled and scored in the seventh when Hughes (8-5) was chased.
Tanaka, who was riding the first two-game losing streak of his short but brilliant Yankees career, improved to 12-3 in his second outing against the light-hitting Twins.
Tanaka was not at his sharpest though, giving up a season-high nine hits and tying a season-high by giving up four runs in seven innings. He left after 85 pitches.
After Tanaka gave up a run in the seventh that cut the Yankees' cushion to 7-4, Dellin Betances worked the eighth and David Robertson recorded the final three outs for his 19th save in 21 chances.
Depending on what the AL East-leading Blue Jays did Thursday night against the A's, the Yankees were either 4 ½ or 3 ½ games back in the division.
The Yankees upped the lead to 7-3 in the seventh when Ichiro Suzuki walked, went to second on Wheeler's single and scored when Brendan Ryan doubled to left.
Lefty Brian Duensing replaced Hughes to face Brett Gardner with the infield in and the Twins trailing by two runs.
Gardner's loud single to center scored Wheeler for a 6-3 advantage and Derek Jeter's grounder to the right side scored Ryan for a four-run bulge.
During the previous five games, which the Yankees lost all of, they batted .237 (37-for-176) overall and .135 (5-for-37) with runners in scoring position.
So when Beltran came to the plate with runners on first and second and no out in the fifth and the Yankees trailing, 2-0, you thought the Yankees were due for a clutch hit or the slump was going to last forever.
Two pitches later Beltran hit his ninth homer over the right-center field wall that erased the deficit and gave the Yankees a one-run lead.
Wheeler's second big league at-bat pushed the lead to 4-2 with a homer that traveled 413 feet to left-center.
The Yankees got a scare in the inning when Brian McCann had a left foot/leg problem after his single to right after Mark Teixeira singled to left.
Joe Girardi and assistant trainer Michael Schuk went to check on McCann, who ran a few slow sprints and remained in the game.
The Twins pushed the lead to 2-0 in the third and ran into an out on the bases for the second time in three frames.
Sam Fuld, the No. 9 hitter, led off with a single off Tanaka's glove in front of Brian Dozier's single to right center that put runners at the corners for Kurt Suzuki. His one-hopper to a diving Ryan at second base scored Fuld and moved
Dozier to second. When Chris Parmelee hit a hard one-hopper to Tanaka, Dozier was an easy out at third. Tanaka then retired Kendrys Morales for the final out.
Dozier hit Tanaka's second pitch of the game to center for a single and scored from first on Parmelee's one-out double to right.
Parmelee was caught attempting to make third when the throw went home but was out on a 9-4-2-5-7 play that was highlighted by left fielder Brett Gardner being in position near second base to make the tag.
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