Gleyber stumbles on moving up day
Memorial Day wasn’t Gleyber’s Day. On a day when the 21-year-old phenom was moved from from the ninth spot up to fifth in the batting order, Gleyber Torres made a few mistakes in the Yankees’ 5-1 loss to the Astros at Yankee Stadium.
Torres, who despite playing in just his 31st game usually does everything right, got picked off at second with two on and two outs in the second inning. He also committed his fifth error of the year — a throwing error in the fourth, which led to Houston’s fourth run.
Torres went 1-for-4 at the plate in the fifth spot with a pair of strikeouts. He also made a couple of nice ranging catches in shallow center.
The Yankees trailed 3-0 when Torres got picked off by Justin Verlander.
“I think he was just a little aggressive with his secondary lead and didn’t consider that enough — we know (Verlander) likes to spin a lot,” Aaron Boone said. “It wasn’t necessarily even the good spin move but I think just trying to be a little too aggressive with the secondary there with two outs and got caught.”
Torres also fielded a routine grounder from Yuli Gurriel before failing to complete the play with a mental lapse on the errant throw to first.
“I think that’s the case of another teaching moment in that because he plays the game with such confidence and such ease sometimes when it’s really easy you can not necessarily finish the play and that’s all that was right there,” Boone said.
The manager wasn’t concerned about Torres at all. He has been able to shake off previous miscues during his young career.
“I’ll be better tomorrow and try to do my job,” Torres said.
Torres is hitting .317 with nine homers and 24 RBI in 31 games.
DAY OFF FOR STANTON
Giancarlo Stanton got the day off against Verlander.
Stanton went 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts in the weekend series against the Angels.
It was a surprising move given no one would’ve expected the reigning NL MVP would sit for the Yankees against the ace of the defending champions — even in a regular-season game in late May.
Stanton is hitting .177/.273/.258 against righty starters with two homers and 50 strikeouts in 124 at-bats.
“There’s always an adjustment phase,” Boone said. “And while he goes through that, I know he’s had some ups and downs already. He’s also been wildly productive for a guy that’s had his ups and downs so far and I think over time he’ll continue to work at it and he’ll continue to get more and more comfortable and there will be that period where eventually I’m confident he’ll really take off. So hopefully that’s coming soon.”
WARREN REPORT
Adam Warren (back) struggled in his first rehab appearance at Triple-A Scranton, allowing four runs and only recording two outs.
Boone said there were no red flags physically, however, as Warren continues to build up.