For the first half of Tuesday night’s game, it looked destined to be a blowout, an uncompetitive ballgame between two teams that have historically played many of those. The New York Yankees had chased Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews  early and built up a nine-run lead by the time the fifth inning came around.

But the Twins wouldn’t roll over.

Though their comeback attempt fell just short, the Twins managed to make a game out of it before falling 10-9 to the Yankees in the second game of the series at Target Field.

“We’ve got some guys that just, they refused to stop playing hard and want to win at all costs,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You want the win at the back end of this, for sure. But I fully enjoyed watching our guys compete out there and do what they did. That was fantastic.”

The Twins (66-85), who scored a run in the first inning, added three more in the fifth, two of which came from James Outman’s fifth home run of the season.

Right after that, Byron Buxton went to work with his legs, stealing second base after taking a walk. Buxton, who is attempting to become the first Twin with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases, took off for third during Austin Martin’s at-bat.

He would have had it stolen, too, if not for Martin getting a piece of the ball, fouling it off.

He then tried again later in the inning, stealing third base successfully for the second time in his career. Prior to this season, Buxton had only attempted to swipe third one time in his career, in 2016. That brought Buxton, who already has accomplished the home run piece of the feat, up to 24 stolen bases.

“Try something different,” Buxton said. “A little more stuff on the line. Just trying to go for it a little bit.”

From there, he scored the team’s third run of the inning on a wild pitch.

In the sixth, the Twins added another four runs, using five hits to do so, including a Ryan Fitzgerald two-run home run. Trevor Larnach’s long fly ball to right later in the inning traveled 362 feet and excited the crowd before dying on the warning track, just a few feet short of tying the game. Buxton scored on the sacrifice fly.

Larnach would get his home run after all, but it was a solo shot in the ninth inning, and the Twins fell by one run to the Yankees (84-67).

Matthews allowed singles to the first two batters of the game, both of whom scored. In one of his shortest starts of the season, Matthews lasted just three innings, giving up a season-high nine runs on 11 hits.

“Hats off to the offense and the bullpen. They really picked up the team and me especially with the rough start,” Matthews said. “They kept fighting and kept swinging. You love to see that out of them.”

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – SEPTEMBER 16: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees hits a single against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field on September 16, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
New York Yankees’ Cody Bellinger (35) steals second base against Minnesota Twins third baseman Ryan Fitzgerald (53) in the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

DFL candidate Xp Lee has won the special election for the Minnesota House district left vacant after the assassination of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, restoring the balance of power in the chamber to a 67-67 tie between Democrats and Republicans.

Unofficial results Tuesday night showed Lee had a decisive lead, with 61% of the vote to Republican Ruth Bittner’s 39% with all District 34B precincts reporting results. Polls closed at 8 p.m. and final returns were in a short while later.

SMALL FILE — MAX. WIDTH FOR PRINT: 3.75 INCHES — Undated courtesy photo, circa July 2025, of Xp Lee, Democratic candidate for Minnesota House District 34B. Lee faces Republican candidate Ruth Bittner in a special election on Sept. 16, 2025. Bittner, a real estate agent seeking her first elected office and Lee, a former Brooklyn Park City Council member, are vying to replace Melissa Hortman, the former Democratic state House speaker who was slain along with her husband at their home in June 2025. District 34B includes the communities of Brooklyn Park and Champlin in Hennepin County and Coon Rapids in Anoka County. (Courtesy of the candidate)

“I am honored to have been elected to represent my neighbors in Brooklyn Park, Champlin, and Coon Rapids,” Lee said in a statement. “I have never lost sight of the situation that brought us to this moment, and I will work hard every day to carry forward Speaker Melissa Hortman’s legacy.”

Lee is a former member of the Brooklyn Park City Council. It was widely expected that the district would remain in DFL hands. Bittner is a real estate agent who had not served in elected office before.

Hortman was first elected to the House in 2004 and was in her 11th term in the Legislature. She was elected speaker of the House in 2019, when the DFL took a majority in the House and continued to lead her party in the House after it lost the majority in 2025.

Hortman handily won reelection in District 34B and past districts that covered a similar footprint. In 2024, she won reelection with 63% of the vote.

The House seat has been vacant for three months since Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed by a gunman at their home in Brooklyn Park on June 14. Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot at their home in Champlin but survived.

Vance Boelter, 57, faces federal and state murder, attempted murder and other charges in the attacks.

Hortman’s death left the House split 67-66 between Republicans and DFLers. With Lee’s win, a power-sharing agreement the parties reached earlier this year after the 2024 election delivered a tied House will remain in place.

Undated courtesy photo, circa Sept. 2025, of Ruth Bittner, candidate for state House District 34B in a special election on Sept. 16, 2025. Bittner, a Republican real estate agent seeking her first elected office, faces Democrat Xp Lee, a former Brooklyn Park City Council member, in a special election to replace Melissa Hortman, the former Democratic state House speaker who was slain along with her husband at their home in June 2025. District 34B includes the communities of Brooklyn Park and Champlin in Hennepin County and Coon Rapids in Anoka County. (Courtesy of the candidate)

The Legislature has not been in session, so the balance of seats hasn’t had any immediate effect on the state, and the House can’t pass any bills without Democratic-Farmer-Labor support because the threshold to do so is 68 votes.

The state Senate is in a similar situation. DFLers have 33 seats to Republicans’ 32 in that chamber, but 34 votes are needed to pass legislation.

Before two vacancies this summer due to the unexpected death of Sen. Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo, and the felony conviction of another member, Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, the DFL had a 34-33 advantage. Special elections to fill the two seats are scheduled for Nov. 4.

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Minnesota United vs. Austin FC

What: U.S. Open Cup semifinal
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Allianz Field
Stream: CBS Sports Network; Paramount+
Weather: 75 degrees, mostly sunny, 5 mph east wind

Form: Minnesota is unbeaten in four, including a 3-1 victory at first-place San Diego on Saturday. Austin had won two straight before a 2-0 loss to Texas rival FC Dallas last weekend.

Recent matchups: Minnesota beat Austin 3-0 in Texas on May 3 and the two teams played to a 1-1 draw in St. Paul on May 24.

Quote: Players “are probably sick of hearing me describe games as finals because I think I’ve been doing it for a while and it gets the desired response,” head coach Eric Ramsay said. “But I feel like we have been in that position where we’ve been in the hunt for lots of things for a lot of this season.”

Stat: Forward Kelvin Yeboah has not scored in seven straight matches, but he was dealing with another lull in May before scoring in an Open Cup round of 16 match against St. Louis. He also converted on two penalty kicks in the USOC quarterfinal win over Chicago.

Context: The Loons are expecting at least 14,000 fans for Wednesday’s match, which is well short of the stadium’s capacity of 19,600, but way more than they have had in previous rounds.

Absences: MF/CB Carlos Harvey is out with a knee injury that Ramsay said is not considered serious. CF Momo Dieng is ineligible after already playing in the tournament for Hartford Athletic.

Prediction: With only 31 goals in 29 games, Austin has struggled to score, especially without injured forward Brandon Vazquez, and Minnesota’s success is built on a suffocating defense. Loons move onto their first Open Cup final since 2019 with a 2-0 victory.

By STEVEN GRATTAN

PUERTO NARINO, Colombia (AP) — A flash of pink breaks the muddy surface of the Amazon River as scientists and veterinarians, waist-deep in the warm current, patiently work a mesh net around a pod of river dolphins. They draw it tighter with each pass, and a spray of silver fish glistens under the harsh sun as they leap to escape the net.

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When the team hauls a dolphin into a boat, it thrashes as water streams from its pink-speckled sides and the crew quickly ferries it to the sandy riverbank where adrenaline-charged researchers lift it onto a mat. They have 15 minutes — the limit for how long a dolphin can safely be out of the water — to complete their work.

Fernando Trujillo, a marine biologist leading the effort, kneels beside the animal’s head, shielding its eye with a small cloth so it can’t see what’s happening. He rests his hand gently on the animal and speaks in low tones.

“They’ve never felt the palm of a hand. We try to calm them,” said Trujillo, sporting a pink dolphin bandana. “Taking a dolphin out of the water, it’s a kind of abduction.”

One person counts the dolphin’s breaths. Another wets its skin with a sponge while the others conduct multiple medical tests that will help show how much mercury is coursing through the Amazon’s most graceful predators.

Mercury threat spreads through the Amazon food chain

Trujillo directs the Omacha Foundation, a conservation group focused on aquatic wildlife and river ecosystems, and leads health evaluations of river dolphins. It’s a painstaking operation involving experienced fishermen, veterinarians and locals that takes months of planning and happens a couple of times a year.

“We take blood and tissue samples to assess mercury,¨ Trujillo told The Associated Press from the Colombian riverside town of Puerto Narino. “Basically, we’re using dolphins as sentinels for the river’s health.”

Mercury contamination comes mainly from illegal gold mining — a growing industry across the Amazon Basin — and forest clearing that washes mercury that naturally occurs in soil into waterways.

The miners use mercury to separate gold from sediment, then dump the sludge back into rivers, where it enters fish eaten by people and dolphins. Rising global gold prices have fueled a mining boom, and mercury pollution in remote waterways has increased.

Scientists and veterinarians capture a pink river dolphin in the Amazon River to perform health checks in Puerto Narino, Colombia, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Mercury can damage the brain, kidneys, lungs and immune system and cause mood swings, memory loss and muscle weakness in people, according to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Pregnant women and young children are most at risk, with prenatal exposure linked to developmental delays and reduced cognitive function.

“The maximum any living being should have is 1 milligram per kilogram,” Trujillo said. “Here, we’re seeing 20 to 30 times that amount.”

In previous years, his team found 16 to 18 milligrams per kilogram of mercury in dolphins, which can suffer the same neurological damage, organ damage and other problems as humans. In Colombia’s Orinoco River, levels in some dolphins have reached as high as 42, levels scientists say are among the most extreme ever recorded in the species.

Trujillo said it’s difficult to prove the toxin is directly killing dolphins. Further studies are underway, he added, noting that “any mammal with a huge amount of mercury will die.”

When Trujillo and his team tested their own blood three years ago, his results showed more than 36 times the safe limit — 36.4 milligrams per kilogram — a level he attributes to decades working in mercury-affected areas and a diet heavy in fish. With medical assistance, his levels have dropped to about 7 milligrams.

“Mercury is an invisible enemy until it builds up to a sufficient amount, then it starts to affect the central nervous system,” Trujillo told AP after his team managed to capture and test four pink dolphins. “We’re already seeing evidence of it in Indigenous communities.”

A series of scientific studies and reports — including work by the International Pollutants Elimination Network and academic researchers — have found high mercury exposure among Indigenous peoples across the Amazon, including in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Suriname and Bolivia. Hair samples showed averages well above WHO’s safe threshold of 1 part per million, with one Colombian community registering more than 22 milligrams per kilogram.

Dolphin populations in this part of the Amazon have plunged, with Trujillo’s monitoring showing a 52% decline in pink dolphins and a 34% drop in gray river dolphins, a different species, in recent decades. The International Union for Conservation of Nature listed the pink dolphin as endangered in 2018. Trujillo said exact numbers for the Amazon are unknown, but his organization estimates 30,000 to 45,000 across the basin.

Pink river dolphins also face threats from overfishing, accidental entanglement in nets, boat traffic, habitat loss and prolonged drought.

Colombia says it’s tackling illegal mining and mercury pollution. It banned mercury use in mining in 2018, ratified the Minamata Convention aimed at reducing mercury in the environment and submitted an action plan in 2024. Authorities cite joint operations with Brazil and recent enforcement sweeps, but watchdogs say efforts remain uneven and illegal mining persists across much of the country.

Other Amazon nations say they’re stepping up. Brazil has launched raids and moved to restrict satellite internet used by illegal gold-mining camps that use mercury, aiming to disrupt logistics and supply lines. Peru recently seized a record 4 tons of smuggled mercury. Ecuador, Suriname and Guyana have filed action plans to cut mercury use in small-scale gold mining.

A delicate operation to test dolphins safely

The dolphin testing operation relies on José “Mariano” Rangel, a charismatic former fisherman from Venezuela. He leads the charge when it’s time to haul the animals — which can weigh as much as about 353 pounds — into the small boats. It’s a moment that can end with a stinging blow to the jaw as the dolphins thrash to break free.

Scientists and veterinarians free a pink river dolphin after a health check in Puerto Narino, Colombia, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

“The most difficult part of the captures is enclosing the dolphins,” Rangel said.

A portable ultrasound machine scans lungs, heart and other vital organs for disease. The team checks for respiratory problems, internal injuries and signs of reproduction, photograph the animals’ skin and scars, swab blowholes and genital openings for bacterial cultures, and collect tissue for mercury testing. Microchips are implanted so researchers can identify each animal and avoid duplicating tests.

Omacha has recorded antimicrobial resistance — bacteria that can’t be killed by common medicines — and respiratory problems. They have also identified possible emerging diseases, such as papilloma virus, that could pose risks to both dolphins and humans.

After a long morning hauling and testing dolphins, the scientists return to a laboratory in Puerto Narino that’s covered with posters of dolphins and manatees and the bones and skulls of dolphins and other animals. They test some samples, prepare others to send to larger facilities and end their day repairing nets and refilling kits to do it all again at dawn.

For Trujillo, each capture, scan and blood test is part of a larger fight.

“We are one step away from being critically endangered and then extinct,” Trujillo said.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.