The Yankees did not homer off Dobnak, but they wore him down with hard-hit singles and doubles. Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli hooked Dobnak after the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning and turned to Tyler Duffey, a reliable reliever during the regular season. But Duffey was no better against the Yankees’ buzz-saw of a lineup, which began to pile on the runs.

Left fielder Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead with a sacrifice fly. Second baseman Gleyber Torres smacked a single to make it 3-0. And then Gary Sanchez was hit by a pitch, loading the bases again. When Gregorius hammered a 1-2 pitch down the right-field line, it was the fourth straight at-bat in which Duffey failed to put a Yankees batter away with two strikes.

In that third inning alone, every Yankee hitter aside from Gio Urshela either drove in or scored a run. The scoring outburst buoyed a strong performance from the Yankees’ pitching staff — led by starter Masahiro Tanaka, who allowed one run over five innings — against a powerful Twins offense. Tanaka, who lowered his playoff E.R.A. to 1.54, joined Sandy Koufax as the only pitchers in major league history to allow no more than two runs in each of his first six postseason starts.

“We were a little timid,” Twins first baseman C.J. Cron said, adding later, “We wanted to swing. We weren’t swinging with the same aggression that we have all year.”

But the star of the night was surely Gregorius, who was slumping like no other player entering October. From mid-August through the end of the regular season, he had a miserable .184 batting average across 30 games. It didn’t help that in August he dealt with finger and shoulder injuries, neither of which sent him to the injured list. Some metrics showed that Gregorius had regressed on defense. And given the versatility of D.J. LeMahieu and Torres, it seemed plausible that Gregorius might sit out against a left-handed pitcher this postseason.

“Just try to swing at strikes,” Gregorius said of what he had needed to improve. “That’s one thing for me right now, and be patient.”