CC DELIVERS A RAY OF LIGHT
Torreyes jumps at his big chance
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. − Ronald Torreyes’ feet barely were touching the ground as it was as he swiftly circled the bases, the unlikeliest of the new wave of Yankees to blast the team’s first home run of the young season.
The diminutive utility infielder, starting the first two games of 2017 at shortstop only because Didi Gregorius injured his shoulder during the World Baseball Classic, then reached home plate and actually left his feet to land a firm, two-handed high-five on 6-foot-7 teammate Aaron Judge.
“That’s the handshake that we have,” Torreyes said through a smile and through a translator after his two-run blast in the third inning helped catapult CC Sabathia and the Yanks to their first victory of 2017, while erasing the stench of their Opening Day clunker two days earlier, with a 5-0 win over the Rays.
“He puts his hands real high,” Torreyes added of Judge, “so I have to run and jump.”
Torreyes, who insists he stands no more than 5-foot-7 regardless of some mediaguide listings having him as many as three inches taller, managed only one homer in 155 at-bats, mostly off the bench, as a rookie last season.
The No. 9 hitter even had been pinch-hit for by Joe Girardi in the seventh inning of the opener on Sunday, with the manager looking to get back into that blowout loss “with one swing of the bat.”
That’s all it took, though, for the 24-year-old Torreyes to scramble the first egg he saw from Jake Odorizzi − come on, over easy, get it? − in the third inning and launch it into the left-field seats for a 2-0 lead, the Yanks’ first of the season.
Judge, listed as a full foot taller than Torreyes, was there waiting for him at home after opening the inning with a single.
But the behemoth right fielder certainly didn’t bend down to greet his teammate.
“Toe is the first to do that, I think,” Judge joked of the jumping high-five. “(Bench coach) Tony Pena said next time Toe’s next to me I have to get down on my hands and knees. But that was pretty cool.”
Torreyes also made a spectacular play behind the mound after a chopper had ticked off a leaping Sabathia’s glove in the third inning, bare-handing the ball and whizzing a strike to Greg Bird to nail Tampa leadoff man Steven Souza at first.
“I don’t think a whole lot of us would’ve bet on that (home run), but he played an incredible game tonight, some really good defensive plays,” Girardi said.
And it hardly was surprising to hear Girardi and veteran teammates like Sabathia and Headley genuinely beaming afterward about Torreyes’ contribution.
“He’s one of those guys that everybody pulls for, because he works his butt off plays 17 different positions and he never complains,” Headley said. “He’s just a great teammate, and when he gets big hits like that, it really fires the team up.”
Something certainly has lit a fire under Headley already, as well, going 5-for-8 with a homer through two games, one year after he started out 2016 without a homer until May 12.
“I’m sure he’s sleeping better,” Girardi joked.
“It feels a heckuva lot better than it did for a month and half last year,” Headley concurred.
Headley’s and Torreyes’ contributions Tuesday − a Head to Toe win, anyone? − came on the same day the organization announced top shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres will split his playing time at DoubleA Trenton between shortstop, third base and second base − manning each multiple times a week.
They also came at an important time for both left-side infielders, with Gregorius slated to be sidelined several more weeks with a bum shoulder.
“I come in here and try to do my work,” Torreyes said. “Didi’s a very important part of our team and we want him back, but my job is to be ready to play and that’s what I felt, if they put me in, that I’m ready to play. But I’m just hoping that Didi comes back soon.”
In the meantime, Girardi says he just wants Torreyes to “be himself,” instead of thinking he must replace anyone.
“Some people refer to Torreyes as he’s a baseball player. He’s going to do everything right,” Girardi said. “Didi is a hard guy to replace, but we feel that Toe is going to do a good job. He’s a tough little out.”
And one deserving of the biggest of highfives, too.