NEW YORK (Interstat) — Gerrit Cole struck out seven over five innings and Trent Grisham drove in two runs as the New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Friday night at Yankee Stadium II.

Cole allowed five hits and two earned runs in his fifth start of the season, improving his record to 2-3. David Bednar earned his 17th save with a perfect ninth inning that included three strikeouts. The Yankees improved to 49-38, while the Twins dropped to 42-47.

Minnesota struck first in the top of the first inning when Kody Clemens homered to left center field, his 15th of the season, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead. The lead lasted only until the bottom of the inning, when Grisham answered with a solo homer to right field, his ninth, tying the game 1-1.

The Yankees took control in the third inning. With one out, Grisham singled to right field. Ben Rice followed by launching his 24th home run of the season to right field, scoring Grisham and giving New York a 3-1 lead. Jasson Domínguez singled later in the inning, and Cody Bellinger walked, but Paul Goldschmidt struck out to end the inning.

Minnesota cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth inning. Kody Clemens led off with a double, advanced on a strikeout and a called third strike, then scored on a single by Victor Caratini. Caratini was thrown out trying to advance on the throw, and the Twins could not push across the tying run.

The score remained 3-2 until the seventh inning, when the Yankees added two more runs. Ryan McMahon led off with a double to right field. José Caballero singled to center, scoring McMahon to make it 4-2. Caballero moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Austin Wells and scored on a sacrifice fly by Grisham to right field, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead.

New York’s bullpen held the Twins scoreless over the final two innings. Fernando Cruz pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing one hit. Brent Headrick struck out two in a perfect eighth inning, and Bednar sealed the win with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the side.

The Twins managed six hits in the game, with Clemens collecting a homer and a double. Luke Keaschall also doubled and singled, and Caratini had a single and an RBI. Royce Lewis doubled for Minnesota but was left stranded in the second inning.

For the Yankees, Grisham finished 2 for 3 with a homer and two RBIs. Rice went 1 for 3 with a homer and two RBIs. McMahon doubled and scored a run, and Caballero had a single and an RBI.

Both teams left runners in scoring position in the later innings. Minnesota put two runners on in the top of the eighth inning with walks to Keaschall and Trevor Larnach, but Clemens grounded out and Josh Bell walked to load the bases before Royce Lewis grounded into a force out to end the threat.

The game lasted 2 hours, 53 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 45,104.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Minnesota Twins 5, New York Yankees 2. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Yankees a 65.30 percent probability to win. New York had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total of seven runs went over the over-under line of 9.5.