Sanchez becomes fastest to 11 HRs as Yanks roll
This officially has become absurd — and historic — now with Gary Sanchez.
New York’s and baseball’s sudden breakout star went deep yet again on Saturday and even took his first Bronx curtain call after becoming the fastest player in major-league history to reach 11 home runs, as the revamped Yankees kept rolling back into the playoff picture with their fourth straight victory, a 13-5 shellacking of the Orioles at the Stadium.
Sanchez hit just 10 home runs in 284 atbats at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre this season, but the rookie catcher now has 11 long balls in just 23 games with the Yanks — with all coming in his last 54 atbats after he hadn’t hit one in the first 26 trips of his career.
“I had no clue, just learned about it. It’s great. Let’s see if I can keep on going,” Sanchez said through a translator when informed of the record. “I don’t have an explanation for it. I’m doing the same routine that I was doing in the minor leagues, I’m doing it here. I’m getting really good results right now. That’s it.”
George Scott (1966) and Colorado’s Trevor Story (earlier this season) had been the only players in baseball history to belt 10 homers in their first 22 games before Sanchez joined them in Friday’s 14-4 victory over Baltimore.
“They say when people are going bad, they’re never as bad as they look, and when they’re going great, they’re never as great as they look. So it’s probably somewhere in between,” Joe Girardi said of Sanchez before the game. “I think he has the ability to put streaks together, because he’s extremely talented.
“But I don’t think you would expect this from anyone in the game.”
Indeed, Sanchez’s 11 homers in 20 games in August represent the most in one calendar month by any American League rookie since Mark McGwire blasted 15 for Oakland in May of 1987. The 23-year-old Sanchez also is the first Yankee to hit as many as nine homers in any 10-game stretch since recently released Alex Rodriguez did it in 2007.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Starlin Castro, who contributed a careerhigh-tying four hits. “Every time he goes to the plate, we feel like something is going to happen, in a good way. It’s been awesome, really fun to watch.”
Castro and Aaron Hicks also went deep and drove in three runs apiece as the Yanks (67-61) improved to 15-9 in August to inch back within 2.5 games of Baltimore for the second AL wild-card position entering Sunday’s series finale.
“I think when you’re winning and scoring runs, you’re going to look energized as a club, and obviously (Sanchez) has been a big part of it. He’s been extremely productive,” Girardi said. “I told you we were here to win games. And I really liked some of the things we did, bringing up some of the young kids. I thought they could help us.
“I know obviously we traded away our leading home run and RBI guy (in Carlos Beltran) and two really good relievers (Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller), but I still felt there was enough talent in that room to win. And we need to continue to do it.”
Sanchez also walked twice and struck out twice in five plate appearances to drop his batting average to a mere .400, while throwing out another baserunner to improve to 6-for-9 on stolen-base attempts.
He earned his first career curtain call after driving a high fastball from Orioles starter Dylan Bundy to the opposite field and over the wall in right for a 5-2 lead in the fourth.
“I heard them, and then following that, my teammates told me to go out,” Sanchez said. “It’s very exciting to hear, being called out by the fans. It’s a very exciting moment.”
The rookie also is tied with Hideki Matsui for the secondmost RBI in franchise history (21) through 23 games, behind only Joe DiMaggio’s 25.
“It’s a nice feeling to feel that my name is somehow near these guys that have been so good in baseball,” Sanchez said. “But I’m just trying to do my job… Good results are coming out now, but (there’s) no pressure at all.”
Chad Green was pulled after yielding back-to-back homers in the fifth by Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis, who also had belted a two-run shot in the third, for a 5-4 game. But the Yanks plated seven combined runs in the fifth and sixth innings to surpass doubledigit runs in consecutive games for the first time this season.
“I have to do a better job keeping the ball in the ballpark,” said Green, who was far more complimentary of Sanchez, his teammate for much of the year at Triple-A.
“It seems like he gets better every game. I don’t think now we’re shocked by whatever he does,” Green added. “Whenever he comes to bat, it seems he has a chance to leave the ballpark.
“We’re excited and we’re cheering right along with the fans. It’s crazy what he’s doing right now.”