MINNEAPOLIS -- The New York Yankees have a bunch of proud, highly paid and accomplished hitters who have been performing much of this season as if they are well past their prime. Signs of a turnaround have emerged in this series at Minnesota. Brian Roberts had three doubles and a triple for the first four-extra-base-hit game of his 14-year career, and the Yankees used their bullpen to preserve a 6-5 win over the Twins on Friday. "Hitting is contagious. I think it goes both ways," said Roberts, who raised his batting average by 11 points to .248. "When a couple guys start struggling, sometimes everybody starts struggling. A couple guys start hitting, it can kind of roll. So hopefully well fall in that direction." David Huff (2-0), the first of four New York relievers, struck out three in three perfect innings after starter Chase Whitley faltered. David Robertson notched his 20th save in the ninth. "Its always big when the bullpen can pick up six innings and we still get a win out of it," Robertson said. The veterans in the lineup did the heavy lifting early on. Jacoby Ellsbury delivered a two-run single in the second to help finish off Twins starter Kyle Gibson (7-7), and the Yankees had 10 hits for the second straight game. "It was probably the most frustrating part, looking back," Gibson said of Ellsburys hit that pushed the lead to 6-1. Gibson brought the American Leagues best home-ballpark ERA among qualified pitchers at 1.54, but he only lasted two innings against the Yankees. One of the runs on his line was unearned, due to a passed ball by Kurt Suzuki that let Mark Teixeira move up and later score on Carlos Beltrans sacrifice fly in the first, but almost every ball was hit hard. "They jumped on him and never let him breathe," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. Brett Gardner led off the game with a triple, Roberts drove him in with a double and Gibson was on his way to that kind of day. He gave up six hits and one walk, without any strikeouts. Teixeira had an RBI double, and Brendan Ryan added a sacrifice fly. "Weve said all along these guys are good hitters, and eventually its going to turn," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. The matchup on the mound between Whitley and Gibson quickly deteriorated, but a legitimate duel between Huff and Sam Deduno developed. Whitley gave up eight hits, four runs and one walk in three innings with four strikeouts, putting his spot in the injury-depleted rotation in a tenuous place. The rookie was unbeaten in his first seven starts, allowing three runs or fewer each time, but he has allowed a whopping 27 hits and 17 runs in 10 1-3 innings over his last three turns. "Its very frustrating, but youve got to keep working to give the team a chance to win," Whitley said. Brian Dozier led off the Minnesota first with his 16th homer, and Chris Colabello went deep the next inning in his first at-bat since May 23. Oswaldo Arcia had an RBI triple and scored on Trevor Plouffes single to pull the Twins within two before Huff took charge. "Whether he goes eight or he goes three, were always going to be ready for him. Were there to back him up and get him through the game," Huff said. Dellin Betances dodged trouble in the eighth inning after Colabello cut the lead to one with an RBI groundout. Teixeira made a diving stop to his right at first base on Eduardo Escobars sharp grounder, recovering in time to throw to Betances for the third out with a runner on third. This Independence Day game, pitting the Yankees and Twins at Target Field for the second straight year, was preceded by a ceremony for the 75th anniversary of Lou Gehrigs moving farewell address, shortly after he was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disease that later took his name. Players from both teams read prerecorded portions of the speech. NOTES: The Yankees are 15-3 at Target Field, including two post-season wins. ... University of Minnesota basketball coach and lifelong Yankees fan Richard Pitino sat in the first row behind home plate. ... David Phelps (3-4, 4.26 ERA) will pitch for the Yankees Saturday, and Yohan Pino (0-2, 6.32 ERA) will take the mound for the Twins. The Twins will honour retiring Yankees captain Derek Jeter before the game with a farewell gift. Jeter had Friday off to rest. Brendan Ryan played SS instead.
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Greg Jennings Vikings Jersey . Assistant coach Glen Gulutzan said Thursday that Edler, who played Tuesday in Nashville, is out indefinitely. CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Busch proved hes still the man to beat on the Nationwide Series -- particularly when it comes to Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch raced to his 11th Nationwide victory of the year Friday night, giving him a season sweep on the 1 1/2-mile track. Busch edged Nationwide title contenders Austin Dillon and Sam Hornish Jr. to win for the eighth time in the series at his favourite track. Coupled with his five Truck Series wins at track, he broke the track victory record with 13. "I feel like Ive really taken to this place over the years," Busch said. "I have it figured out in Camping Truck and Nationwide but I seem to have a little bit of a struggle on the Cup side. Well see if we cant change that around on Saturday. Id like to score my first Cup Series win here." Busch and wife Samantha donated the winnings from the race to the Pretty in Pink Foundation that provides financial assistance and support to underinsured and uninsured North Carolinians with breast cancer. The victory pushed Buschs series record to 62. He has 19 victories this year in NASCARs three national series, also winning four times each in Cup and Truck. Overall, he has 124 victories in the three series, winning 28 times in Cup and 34 in the Truck circuit. The win wasnt quite as easy as his Nationwide victory at the track in May when he led 186 of the 200 laps. Busch, who started from the pole, only led 36 laps this time after struggling during the first half of the race. He took the lead from Hornish with eight laps to go and pulled away. "Its very frustrating to be leading with 10 laps to go and to get blown away by the 54 car," Hornish said. Busch said he stole a page from Kyle Larson, who ran well at the top of the track for most of the night before nicking the wall late and finishing 13th. "Its good to be young and dumb," Busch said with a laugh. "He taught us old wily veterans something. He drove past me and I said, I better try that." The night ended the same way it began in the points standings-- with Dillon holding an eight-point lead over Hornish. Hornish finished a spot behind Dillon in third, but receiived bonus points for leading the most laps essentially making Friday nights race a push.dddddddddddd. The final three races will determine wholl win the championship but both drivers said theres a mutual respect and they expect clean racing moving forward. "I feel like were going to run hard for the championship and were going to race each other with respect and see how the points stack up at the end," Hornish said. Dillon is hoping for more races like this one, calling it the best race hes been a part of this year. "We had three guys fighting it out until the end and it was a heck of a race," Dillon said. With the victory, Joe Gibbs Racings No. 54 Toyota took the lead in the owners standings, four points ahead of Penske Racings No. 22. Joey Logano was seventh in the Penske ride. The No. 22 has 11 victories this year, five by Brad Keselowski, three by Logano, two by AJ Allmendinger and one by Ryan Blaney. Busch started on the pole but dropped back to sixth in the first half of the race. His crew made adjustments around lap 115 and he started climbing back toward the front. It was a tough night for Gibbs teammates Brian Vickers and Elliott Sadler, who crashed on lap 52. The incident began when Reed Sorenson got into the grass causing him to slide up the track into the wall on the front stretch. As Sorenson slid back down the track Vickers tried to avoid him and slammed into Sadler, who was coming off pit row, taking out both JGR cars. The crash knocked Vickers and Sorenson out of the race. Sadler returned to the track after getting some done, but that temporary fix only lasted only a dozen laps before he crashed and was forced to join the others behind the wall. Sadler said it was a frustrating night with a lot of "weird luck." "We had a rocket tonight and we were coming up through the pack," Sadler said. "My spotter was telling me to Go, go, I had no idea they were going to hit me." Sorenson said he was looking to make a pass when his left front tire hit the grass. "When I hit the grass my car went right, so I dont really have an explanation for it," Sorenson said.
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