MINNEAPOLIS (Interstat) — Max Fried allowed one earned run over seven innings, and the New York Yankees backed him with two home runs in an 8-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, at Target Field.

Fried improved to 5-4. Bailey Ober took the loss and fell to 7-6. New York moved to 88-63. Minnesota dropped to 70-81. The game drew 27,882 and took 2 hours, 45 minutes. New York finished with 14 hits, while Minnesota had seven.

The Yankees struck quickly in the first. Ben Rice singled on a sharp ground ball to right fielder Luke Keaschall, and Cody Bellinger followed with a two-run homer to right-center field. It was Bellinger’s 16th home run of the season. Heliot Ramos grounded out, Luis Garcia Jr. grounded out and Spencer Jones flew out to end the inning.

Minnesota answered in the bottom of the second. Royce Lewis singled sharply to shortstop George Lombard Jr., then stole second after Brooks Lee struck out swinging. Victor Caratini also struck out swinging before Emmanuel Rodriguez singled sharply to center fielder Spencer Jones, scoring Lewis. Fried ended the inning by picking off Rodriguez at first base.

New York restored a two-run cushion in the third. Ramos walked, Garcia singled to center and Jones reached on a force out that put runners at the corners. Lombard singled to right, scoring Ramos. Anthony Volpe walked to load the bases, but Ali Sanchez flew out sharply to center to end the threat.

The Twins put together a quiet bottom of the third. Austin Martin lined out to right, Keaschall grounded out to short and Kaelen Culpepper struck out on a foul tip. Fried then retired the side in order in the fourth on flyouts by Josh Bell and Lewis and a groundout by Kody Clemens.

New York threatened again in the fourth when Bellinger singled to right and Ramos singled to left, but Garcia flew out to left to strand both runners. In the fifth, Lombard singled with one out, but Volpe flew out to right and Sanchez popped out softly to catcher Victor Caratini in foul territory.

Minnesota got a two-out double from Rodriguez in the fifth, but Fried struck out Martin on a foul tip to keep the runner stranded. Fried worked around a leadoff single by Keaschall in the sixth by getting Culpepper to ground into a double play and Bell to fly out to right.

The Yankees broke the game open in the top of the sixth. Jose Caballero struck out, Ben Rice reached on a fielding error by shortstop Kaelen Culpepper and Bellinger walked. Ramos doubled sharply to left, scoring Rice and moving Bellinger to third. After a pitching change, Garcia reached on a fielder’s choice that cut down Bellinger at home. Spencer Jones then homered to center field, scoring Ramos and Garcia. It was Jones’s 10th home run. Lombard flew out to right to end the inning, but New York led 7-1.

Ober was charged with five and one-third innings, nine hits, three earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts. Taylor Rogers worked one and two-thirds innings of relief, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out one. Yoendrys Gomez pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts.

Minnesota’s best chance after that came in the seventh. Clemens tripled to right with one out, but Fried retired Lewis on a flyout to right and struck out Lee and Caratini, both swinging, to strand the runner. Fried finished with seven innings, six hits, one earned run and six strikeouts. Ryan Yarbrough followed with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit.

New York added its final run in the ninth. Lombard walked, moved to second on Sanchez’s groundout and scored on Caballero’s line-drive single to center. Rice lined out softly to third for the final out of the inning.

Bellinger led the Yankees with three hits, including his home run, and two RBIs. Jones drove in three runs despite finishing with one hit. Ramos had two hits, including a double, and one RBI. Volpe also had two hits, including a double. Rice scored twice after reaching on a single and an error. Caballero added a run-scoring single.

For Minnesota, Rodriguez had two hits and one RBI. Lewis singled, stole a base and scored. Keaschall had three hits, including singles in the first, sixth and eighth. Clemens tripled in the seventh. Rodriguez doubled in the fifth. The Twins could not convert most of their scoring chances, going down in order in the ninth on a flyout by Bell and groundouts by Clemens and Lewis.

The Yankees’ bullpen closed the door after Fried departed. Yarbrough retired the side in the eighth around a Keaschall single and a flyout by Ryan Kreidler. In the ninth, Bell flew out to right, Clemens grounded out to second and Lewis grounded out to short. The victory gave New York a second straight win in the series after a Monday win at Minnesota. It was the second game of a three-game series at Target Field. The Yankees had also won six of their previous seven games, including a three-game sweep of Colorado earlier in the month.

New York improved to 88-63. Minnesota fell to 70-81. The Yankees are scheduled to face the Twins again Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Minneapolis. New York then travels to Arizona for a three-game series starting Friday, Sept. 18. Minnesota will head to Los Angeles for a four-game series against the Angels starting Thursday, Sept. 17.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of New York Yankees 6, Minnesota Twins 3. Interstat’s ELO system had given the Yankees a 62.7 percent probability to win. New York had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 9 went under the over-under line of 7.5.