GARY DOESN’T HOMER
Yanks fall flat as O’s hold Sanchez to single and double:
This is how you know the Yankees have a genuine star-in-the-making in Gary Sanchez: Even on a day he didn’t do anything particularly spectacular, didn’t send the exit-velo nerds into a tizzy or set some slugging record, he’s still deeply involved in what became a 5-0 loss to the Orioles.
Sanchize, we applaud your talent for news-making, as well as slugging. Someone had to be the boldface name now that Alex Rodriguez is outta here, though A-Rod was good at garnering attention for the wrong reasons, too.
Sanchez’s play is what’s getting notice and it’s probably great for both him and the Yankees that it’s all happening in games that actually count, considering the team is hanging around the American League wild card race.
Sunday, the hard-hitting rookie catcher did not blast another homer — what, you thought that was an everyday thing? — but he got two more hits. He was a focal point of one of the biggest plays of the game. He even recovered after Tommy Hunter madehim look bad with two sliders in the eighth inning, ripping a double to finish a 2-for-4 day that lifted his average to .405. “I’ve seen this for many years,” said Aaron Judge, who’s played in the minors with Sanchez. “It’s fun that he’s now doing it on this stage. “Everyone gets a chance to see it now.” “I think this kid has instincts and makes adjustments fairly quickly,” Joe Girardi added of Sanchez, who was the designated hitter Sunday. “You look at his at-bat in the first inning, he hits a rocket to center field (a liner for an out) and he ends up with two hits. Pretty good again.” Sanchez was thrown out trying to go from first to third in the fourth inning, a significant moment because that frame was probably the Yanks’ best chance to score against O’s starter Kevin Gausman. They got three hits in the inning, but plated no one, in part because the Yankees gave Baltimore an out on the bases. The Orioles were shifted on Mark Teixeira, so third baseman Manny Machado had moved closer to second base, leaving third open. Third-base coach Joe Espada waved Sanchez around second, but Machado darted back toward the bag, snared the throw from right fielder Steve Pearce and tagged Sanchez about eight feet from the base.
“They gave me a green light,” Sanchez said through a translator. “We thought we had a chance there to get to third. Unfortunately not.
“When I made the turn, I tried to run as fast as I could. Couldn’t see the throw because I was focused on getting to the base.”
Girardi had no issue with the play, he said, and called it a read by Sanchez, though it’s worth noting that a rookie would probably be looking to the third base coach for cues.
“I always say that mind has to be made up by the baserunner,” Girardi said. “It’s not Joe’s. I think he was reading the third baseman and he took a gamble that he wasn’t going to get back there. It took a really good throw and a really good play by Machado. I don’t have a problem.
“It’s an aggressive play. we’ve been playing aggressive. That time it caught up to us. But I think the thought process was pretty good, because of the shift and what it took to get him.”
Whatever the case, it was just another moment in the spotlight for a guy who must be getting used to it. One day after fans were chanting Sanchez’s name at the Stadium, buzz rippled through the crowd of 38,002 every time he approached the plate. He is tied with Joe DiMaggio for most extra-base hits over a Yankee’s first 24 career games — 19 — after all.
Girardi says he believes his new catcher is processing the attention properly, too. “He’s prepared every day,” the manager said. “He takes care of himself.
He’s ready to go. He wants to play every day. I think he’s handled it well. I haven’t seen him change, so that’s a good thing.
“I think he’s still just committed to doing his job and he hasn’t gotten caught up in it.” ood thing, especially if the Yankees stick around in the wild-card hunt; they are 3.5 games behind the Orioles, who currently hold that spot. The attention will only intensify if Sanchez continues to crush during a playoff race. The cauldron might
Gactually be good for him, Girardi theorized.
“I think when games have meaning every day, when you’re playing in your division, playing other teams fighting for the playoffs, I think it’s very valuable,” Girardi said. “They are games that, in a sense, have pressure. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, it’s another game.’ “I think the meaning of the games, you get a better evaluation of players and I think that’s important.”