After DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge started the first inning by drawing walks from Twins lefty Martin Perez, the heavy-legged Edwin Encarnacion strolled to the plate. Out of all the Yankee hitters, Encarnacion was the strongest candidate to hit into a triple play because he runs like damp cement going uphill.

So when he hit a hard grounder to third baseman Luis Arraez near the bag it sent a buzz through Target Field. Arraez tagged the base and threw to second baseman Jonathan Schoop, whose throw to first beat Encarnacion.

It was the first triple play hit into by the Yankees since Todd Frazier did it on July 25, 2017, against the Reds. It was the first triple play turned by the Twins since June 1, 2017, against the Angels and the 13th in the history of the franchise.