Yankees’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa throws slowest pitch in team history against Twins in 11-2 loss

The Yankees suffered their most lopsided loss of the season on Thursday, ending up with utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the mound in the ninth as he made franchise history for all the wrong reasons.

The 28-year-old threw a 38 mph eephus pitch in a scoreless inning for New York in the team’s 11-2 loss to the Twins. According to Codify Baseball, it officially became the slowest pitch of over 350,000 pitches in the Yankees’ 120-year history.

What is impressive, however, is that Kiner-Falefa gave up only one basehit in the last inning of the game and gave up no runs while giving up three batters that flied out.

New York (8-5), which had won four of its previous five games, struggled all night against the Minnesota bullpen. Michael A. Taylor, rookie Eduoard Julien and Carlos Correa hit consecutive home runs in the first inning to set the tone early on.

The three blasts turned out to be a nine-run burst in the first inning that propelled Minnesota (9-4) to its third straight victory. The game was the opener of a four-game series.

The Twins already had a 5-0 lead when Taylor lifted a 0-2 fastball into center field just above Monument Park to make it 7-0 and chase down New York rookie Jhony Brito (2-1).

Julien, who had led off the inning with his first career hit, greeted reliever Colten Brewer with a bang in the front row from the left field seats. Correa made it 9-0 with a drive to the right-center field seats, his first homer of the season.

Taylor homered again in the third, a two-run drive off Brewer, his third long ball of the season. It was Taylor’s third career multi-homer game and first since June 24, 2017, with the Washington Nationals against the Cincinnati Reds.

For the show of force, the Twins took a 3-0 lead on Trevor Larnach’s basesloaded sacrifice fly and a two-run double by Jose Miranda. Donovan Solano and Christian Vazquez hit RBI doubles for a 5-0 lead before Taylor went deep.

Twins short stop Carlos Correa hit his first home run of the season against the Yankees

Brito gave up seven runs on six hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. The right-hander, who beat the San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles in his first two starts, Brito saw his ERA rise from 0.90 to 6.75.

Minnesota’s Joe Ryan (3-0) gave up one run and three hits in seven innings for his third straight win. He struckout 10 batters, walked none and retired the first 11 batters before Anthony Rizzo homered.

Rizzo also homered in the ninth off Cole Sands, who pitched the last two innings for Minnesota.