A Rarity: Mariano Rivera Coughs Up Lead as Twins Finally Beat Yankees in Bronx

Entering Sunday’s play, the Minnesota Twins hadn’t beaten the New York Yankees in New York since July 4, 2007. The Yankees had beaten the Twins nine straight times overall.

These streaks, as well as another, would presumably continue as Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” blared through Yankees Stadium. Mariano Rivera had opened the bullpen door and was jogging towards the mound.

Holding a three-run lead, reliever Joba Chamberlain had just allowed a two-out single to Michael Cuddyer, loading the bases and bringing up the still dangerous Jim Thome.

This is when Rivera took his place, summoned in to get the final out the 50,000-plus fans, the dugout full of Yankees, and perhaps even the Twins themselves expected him to get.

Thome took an inside cutter, another inside cutter, and then another low. That is Rivera’s pitch, the only pitch he has had. Most of the time this cut fastball gets the job done. No one else in baseball history has accomplished as much as he has with one pitch. One nasty pitch. But today, as exemplified by the very rare 3-0 hole Rivera had dug, it was not sharp.

Thome noticed this, but he knew that it was still Mariano Rivera, so he waited for the closer to make his presence felt in the strike zone. One future Hall of Famer to another, the one on the mound found the heart of the plate with his lone pitch, and the one at the plate took it.

Now Thome was in the ultimate hitter’s count. Sitting dead red on a pitch that Rivera had to fire in the strike zone to avoid the chance of walking in a run, Thome, who has 569 career home runs, wasn’t about to take such a pitch in such an enviable position. He, like thousands of batters before him, topped the Rivera offering foul.

Now it was a full count, and now no one had an advantage. A called or swinging strike and the inning would be over. Ball four and a run would be walked in.

To build tension that was presumed to be at its peak, the sixth pitch and sixth cutter of the at-bat was fouled off with each of the three runners getting a head start off their bases.

The battle was over a pitch later, but not with the conclusion the Yankees envisioned. It was a ball high. Thome dropped his bat and trotted to first base while Yankees Stadium groaned and Orlando Hudson jogged home. MLB.com Video: Thome's walk" target="_blank">The walk, which brought the Twins within 3-2, was the first issued with the bases loaded by Rivera since 2005.

Jason Kubel stepped in and took a cutter low. The crowd was still befuddled by what had just happened, and he wouldn’t give them a chance to recollect themselves, as a shocking scene soon turned into an incredibly stunning one.

Rivera’s second cutter was spun inside as well, but this time Kubel didn’t take it. Instead, he tagged the pitch, clubbing it on a frozen rope to right field. It sped over the wall, sending the Twins into celebration, the crowd’s heads into their hands, and the Yankees on the field and in the dugout into a state of shock. A grand slam, only the fourth Rivera has allowed in his 15-year career and the first since 2002.

This gave the Twins five runs in the eighth, a 6-3 lead, and an eventual win by that same score, as Jon Rauch notched his 10th save by freezing the potential tying run, Mark Teixeira, with a changeup to end a game the Yankees believed would be another tally in the win column.

Rivera’s blown save ended a 51-save streak at home that was a major league record. He was human for one day in the Bronx, and his shocking implosion helped the Twins get off the schneid.

As Minnesota’s manager Ron Gardenhire said, “You probably should have recorded that. Take pictures. It’s probably not something you will see often. As far as I’m concerned, we’re 1-0 against the Yankees in our last one game played. We’ll construe the numbers any way we want now.”