This is a pounding secondary headache with pinstripes.
The good news for the Yankees, their first homestand in the books, is that Gary Sanchez has shown some signs of life, their biggest risk of playing the off-season as if he might be salvageable.
The bad news? Another winter risk – a lesser one, it seemed at the time – has left quite a mark.
The throwing error in the 10th inning by Gleyber Torres did not immediately lead to the Yankees’ 4-3 loss against the Orioles on Wednesday-evening at the Yankee Stadium, as the game ended in the 11th frame. But the shortstop’s second official misstep of the year, on top of a few other memorable unofficial errors, brought up the Yankees’ first loss to the Orioles at home since May 15, 2019, ending a streak of 12 consecutive wins on these guys. in The Bronx.
And it tightened control of the fourth-year player, who arrived in the big leagues as a useful second baseman and struggles to move to shortstop didi Gregorius’ successor, even though he played there as a toddler in Venezuela. If it’s clearly too early to wonder about a change in the critical position, it’s late enough to notice the problem here.
“He has every opportunity to go out and do it,” manager Aaron Boone said of Torres after the game. ‘If he makes a high-profile mistake, he has to work beyond it. … He has all the equipment to work through that, through the bumps, and he has the confidence to know that he has the equipment to get through. “
While Boone is clearly not averse to spinning on behalf of a player (he was of the opinion prior to the game that Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle should have been called up on Tuesday in a ninth inning game that took Torres far too long to perform, leaving Mountcastle an infield-single.), he offered no alibis for Torres’ groundbreaking relay.
Chad Green had scored two outs, which enabled runner-up Anthony Santander to advance only from second to third, when O’s catcher Pedro Severino grounded out to Torres. With plenty of time to get a hold of the slow-footed Severino, Torres unleashed an absolutely terrifying throw that inexperienced first baseman Jay Bruce couldn’t drive, allowing Santander to cruise home. Those who remained of the announced crowd of 10,254 let Torres have it with a stream of boos.
“He made a really tough pitch for Jay there,” Boone said. “It has to be more on schedule.”
Kyle Higashioka gave his teammate a temporary reprieve when he singled to pinch-runner Tyler Wade from second base in the bottom of the inning. But when Green gave up an one-out, lead single to pinch hitter Chance Sisco in the 11th, Rio Ruiz scored from third base, the spotlights returned to Torres.
He was on deck in the bottom of the inning when Santander caught DJ LeMahieu’s line drive to right field and tagged Gio Urshela at home, leaving Urshela confused and Yankees fans hoping the dubious broadcast didn’t cause an injury. Boone said Urshela was okay because he had “hurt his neck,” and now seems like a good time to mention that injury-prone Aaron Judge was unavailable and has doubts for Friday due to pain on his left side.
Sanchez clocked in a strong night, contributing a walk, single and double and fulfilled his duties behind the record without controversy. He returns to Florida with a .278 / .350 / .667 slash.
Torres contributed a walk and single to bring his line to .250 / .333 / .292, well below what was expected of him. After all, his brand calls for him to outdo his glove mistakes.
For now, the Yankees have little to do except support their youngest player and hope their faith pays off. That even if he’s never going to be Ozzie Smith out there, he’ll reduce mental errors significantly. They made their bed with him on the premium spot.
It’s a headache for now. Certainly not an incurable one. One, however, that the Yankees had hoped to avoid before even playing a road game.