MINNEAPOLIS — Twins outfielder Byron Buxton was in disbelief. His eyes widened as he held his hands on his face. It’s been 22 years since the Twins have won a season series against the Yankees.

“I don’t even know how to put that into words,” Buxton told reporters. “Twenty-two years? I was 6. That’s the last time we won? This one felt extra good after hearing that then. It’s kind of like having that monkey off the back.”

Watch as Byron Buxton’s mind is blown when he learns that 2001 was the last time the #MNTwins won a season series against the Yankees: pic.twitter.com/tyWeIiHCyO

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) April 26, 2023

The Yankees lost 6-2 Tuesday night, dropped the second game of the series and are now in danger of getting swept Wednesday afternoon. Twenty-two years of dominance over one team (100-42 versus Minnesota since 2002, the Yankees’ best record against any team during that stretch) is hard to put into perspective. The iPhone was still six years away from getting released. It would’ve taken decades to even pull up this story to read using dial-up internet — god forbid someone was using a landline phone at the same time. Anthony Volpe was just 12 days old on May 10, 2001, when a passed ball got by then-Yankees catcher Joe Oliver in the 10th inning, securing the Twins a series win over the Yankees. In Tuesday’s game, a softly hit grounder from Jose Trevino ended the Yankees’ chances in the ninth.

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One of the issues plaguing the Yankees lately and a major factor in their lack of success at the plate has been their inability to hit starting pitching. In their past five games, opposing starting pitchers have thrown a combined 34 innings, allowed just 19 hits, three runs, four walks and racked up 34 strikeouts. Essentially, the Yankees are making every opposing pitcher look like prime Gerrit Cole. Twins starters Sonny Gray and Joe Ryan both went seven innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out 15 batters.

Against Ryan on Tuesday, it was clear the Yankees’ plan was to jump on first-pitch fastballs. Volpe lined out to the warning track on the first pitch of the game. Anthony Rizzo swung at the first pitch before striking out. Aaron Judge roped a single to left and scored when DJ LeMahieu hit an opposite-field single. The Yankees had five hits in the first two innings off Ryan; they had three total for the rest of the game.

“I think just looking at it holistically, I think (Tuesday) was a lot better with the approach and aggressiveness and taking the fight to them,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The problem was we weren’t able to get an extra-base hit. They kept us in the yard. I thought at-bat quality was much better tonight and much improved but in the end, we couldn’t break through and you add it up and it’s two runs. We have to be better than that.”

It’s so early that standings don’t matter right now, but after dropping three straight games and losing back-to-back series, the Yankees are seven games back of Tampa and just half a game up over Boston for last place in the American League East. The Yankees have enough talent that making the playoffs should ultimately not be a problem, but the big-picture question with this organization is if they have enough to win it all. That leads us to analyze the lineup, again.

The Yankees have a $295 million payroll, the second-highest in baseball, and yet had Willie Calhoun, Franchy Cordero and Aaron Hicks in the lineup against the Twins. This has been a recurring issue. Illustrative of how little production the Yankees have gotten with the bottom half of their lineup, their five-through-nine hitters entered Tuesday’s game with a .189 average, which is tied for last in MLB with the Dodgers. The Yankees’ five-through-nine hitters Tuesday went a combined 4-for-19, and that’s still better production than what they’ve gotten the entire season.

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did not make upgrades to the lineup after the team scored the most runs in baseball last season but once again faltered in the postseason due in part to the team’s lack of consistent offense. This still feels like it will have to be addressed before the deadline, even after Giancarlo Stanton and Harrison Bader return. The depth just isn’t where a team with this level of payroll should be.

The outlook of the Yankees’ roster could look better if Volpe continues progressing at the plate, which he has over the past two weeks. Getting production out of Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza would bring a noticeable difference to the lineup, too.

“I think in all those cases we’re talking about guys who are highly capable,” Boone said prior to Tuesday’s game. “In Anthony’s case, we’ve seen a guy that over the last two weeks especially, you’re starting to see a high-level at-bat. I mean, there’s growing pains that comes with young players figuring it out and learning and gaining that experience and understanding how quickly teams adjust and not to mention you’re going up against the best players in the world.”

Said Volpe: “There’s going to be ups and downs but I feel like there’s so much talent in this locker room and in this lineup that we’re going to come out of it. If everyone just keeps with it and keeps with the process like everyone is, everyone knows we’ll be fine.”

Nestor Cortes lasted just five-plus innings while allowing four runs, three of them earned, in his first loss of the season. It’s the first time since July 8, 2022, that Cortes allowed more than three runs in a game. That streak potentially could have continued if he got some help behind him.

Volpe couldn’t come up with a Michael A. Taylor grounder to lead off the third inning. Boone and Volpe said the ball had “weird spin” coming off Taylor’s bat which ultimately went underneath the rookie shortstop’s glove. It was his third straight game making an error. It led to Donovan Solano roping a double down the line, scoring Taylor.

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In the sixth, Jorge Polanco led off the inning with a double that reached the wall. Hicks sprinted to the wall but couldn’t come up with the catch that Statcast said had a 30 percent probability of being made. It’s unknown whether a better route to the ball would’ve led to an out but that started a four-run inning for the Twins. Buxton followed Polanco’s double with a two-run home run that ended Cortes’ night.

“I would say average,” Cortes said of his performance. “I felt like I could have done a better job locating the inside part of the plate. That last inning, Byron Buxton hit a cutter that I thought didn’t get in enough. That was the difference in the game.”

Boone was asked afterward if he considered going to the bullpen to start the sixth with Cortes’ pitch count nearing 90, but he said it wasn’t a decision because the Yankees need some length out of their starters, especially with the struggles of Jhony Brito and Clarke Schmidt not lasting long into outings.

“He’s got to go,” Boone said of Cortes. “We can’t run to the bullpen in the fourth or fifth inning every night. It’s April. Nestor is one of our dudes. We got to get through some middle innings here. Frankly, it wasn’t a decision.”

Even with Cortes not having his best outing, the Yankees have to start giving some run support to their starting pitchers.

“The reality is we’re in a stretch right now where we haven’t scored enough runs and that’s got to change,” Boone said.

“We’ve done a lot of one or two runs. That doesn’t lend itself to much margin of error on the mound. We’ve got to change that. Hopefully, we can build a little on today in the fact it was better than yesterday but we have to hang some crooked numbers up there. Bottom line.”

(Photo of Anthony Volpe: Nick Wosika / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)