The Yankees had just five hits in their 4-1 loss to the Twins on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

The game started after a rain delay of one hour and 52 minutes, and the offense never appeared. New York failed to complete the three-game sweep and couldn’t take advantage of losses in the AL Wild Card scene. The Yankees remain 1.0 game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians.

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Here are the takeaways…

-Against Joe Ryan, the Yankees would have their work cut out for them. They would have an opportunity to score early when Trent Grisham singled to lead off the first and advanced to second on a passed ball, but Aaron Judge (strikeout), Cody Bellinger (flyout) and Giancarlo Stanton (flyout to the warning track) allowed the Twins ace to escape trouble.

Ryan would pitch into the third inning without much doing until Bellinger took the right-hander deep to the second deck in right field to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees wouldn’t get much else off of Ryan until the seventh, when Anthony Volpe reached on a one-out double. After moving to third on a Ryan McMahon groundout, Ryan was lifted for a reliever. Volpe was stranded on third base when Austin Wells — who wasn’t pinch-hit for with Paul Goldschmidt — struck out looking.

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Wells, starting behind the plate for the first time in this series, finished 0-for-3. Ben Rice started at first base and went 1-for-4. After picking up four hits on Tuesday, Stanton went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.

-Cam Schlittler matched Ryan pitch for pitch, getting through the first three innings without allowing a baserunner. The Twins would get to the young right-hander in the fourth. A walk and double put Schlittler in a bind with no outs, and Luke Keaschall’s RBI groundout knotted the game up and moved Byron Buxton to third base with one out. Schlittler bounced back by striking out Kody Clemens and, after a walk, getting Matt Wallner to fly out to end the inning.

Schlittler would pitch five strong innings, but the Twins made him work and the young righty would not go further in this one.

He threw 86 pitches (55 strikes) through those five innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out six batters.

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-The Yankees bullpen had to do the heavy lifting on Wednesday, with Yerry De Los Santos the first one out of the pen. He allowed back-to-back infield singles to lead off the sixth before Clemens lined a double in the gap and reached third on a fielding error by Grisham to give the Twins a 3-1 lead. De Los Santos would not get an out in the sixth before Aaron Boone went to Mark Leiter Jr.

Leiter got two infield pop outs and was one out away from allowing another run, but Royce Lewis stuck his bat out and lofted a double near the left field line to give Minnesota a 4-1 lead.

Devin Williams pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning with a strikeout. It’s Williams’ second consecutive clean inning since being demoted to low-leverage situations.

Camilo Doval and Brent Headrick combined to get the final two innings without allowing a run.

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Game MVP: Joe Ryan

The Twins’ ace showed why he leads the rotation, keeping the Yankees off the bases and off the board.

HighlightsWhat’s next

The Yankees have an off day on Thursday before heading to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals for a three-game set starting on Friday. First pitch is set for 8:15 p.m.

Luis Gil (0-1, 7.27 ERA) will take the mound for his third start of the season, while the Cardinals will send Andre Pallante (6-9, 4.95 ERA) to oppose him.