Curtis Granderson’s three homers lift Yankees to win over Twins (VIDEO)

With Phil Hughes faltering early on Thursday night, the chances of the Yankees dropping three of four games to the Minnesota Twins started looking very real at Yankee Stadium.

Enter Curtis Granderson. With three homers already to his credit in 2012, the Yankees center fielder hit another three home runs in his first three at-bats, helping to erase an early four-run deficit en route to a series split with a 7-6 victory.

It was the first three-homer game in the history of new Yankee Stadium since it opened in 2009 and the first by a Yankee since Alex Rodriguez hit three in 2007.

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Granderson had two chances to join Lou Gehrig as the only Yankee with four home runs in one game. But he singled in the sixth inning and earned an infield hit in the eighth for the third five-hit game of his career. So not only did he have the first three-homer game of 2012, but he was also the first to record five hits in one contest.

Not a bad consolation prize.

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