Yankees pitchers Jhony Brito, Colten Brewer rocked in Twins' 9-run 1st

Colten Brewer nailed down the final out against the Twins in the top of the first. And the game at Yankee Stadium was essentially over with 8 1/2 innings to go.

The Yankees’ pitching had been great, allowing just 33 runs, the fewest by the team over the first 12 games of a season dating to 1965. And that was despite having eight pitchers on the injured list.

But file Inning No. 1 of Game No. 13 under the category of epic pitching failure.

Rookie righty Jhony Brito and Brewer teamed to serve up nine runs in the first. Minnesota went on to crush the Yankees, 11-2, Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series and a 10-game homestand.

“Just one of those nights,” Brito said through an interpreter, speaking of his own struggles, but it fit the team’s theme, too.

Joe Ryan shut the Yankees down over seven innings, allowing just a run and three hits with no walks and fanning 10. They had won their first four series for the fifth time since the founding of the franchise, but this loss dropped them to 8-5.

The first-place Rays are merely on pace to go 162-0. They don’t quite figure to get there, but 13-0 is rather impressive as starts go. They own a share of the post-1900 record.

“They’re on a historic pace here to open,” closer Clay Holmes said. “Just hoping they taste that first loss and a few more of them.”

Brito tasted the first loss of his major-league career that’s now three starts old. He had started  the season 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA.

The Twins began by loading the bases against him with no outs on two singles and a walk.

Trevor Larnach lifted a sac fly. Jose Miranda followed with a two-run double. Donovan Solano then delivered an RBI double and moved to third on an infield out.

Christian Vazquez stepped up and drove an RBI double to left-center. 5-0.

Michael A. Taylor was next, and he rocked the sixth hit off Brito, a two-run homer to Monument Park. 7-0.

Aaron Boone came out to get Brito.

“Just looked like a lot of pitches up and out over the plate,” the manager said. “He was ball one; it seemed too much, too, behind in the count, and leaving the sinker elevated too much.”

But Brito tried to look at it from a big-picture perspective.

“To me, you’ve got to have a positive mind even though it’s not the outcome you want,” Brito said. “Nights like this, they’re going to happen in baseball.”

Brewer came on and Edouard Julien, who had led off with his first major-league hit, belted his first homer at this level, sending a shot to left. 8-0.

Then Carlos Correa took his second swing at things in the inning and made it back-to-back-to-back homers.  9-0.

Two batters later, it was over.

Thirteen batters.

Nine runs.

Eight hits.

Three homers.

Two walks.

One forgettable night. 

“You’ve just got to chip away and hopefully come back,” Kyle Higashioka said. “But it didn’t happen.”

Taylor tacked on another two-run homer in the third, this time off Brewer. It was 11-0.

Anthony Rizzo accounted for the Yankees’ runs with homers in the fourth and the ninth.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa pitched the ninth for the Yankees. The infielder-outfielder, in his first career mound appearance, only allowed a single.

The games have been going faster because of  the new pitch clock. This was the night when the Yankees began extending the time during the game that alcohol could be sold to the fans.

Fill in your own punch line.