TAMING OF THE SHOE!
Gleyber thrown out footing it to 3rd, but Yanks sock it to O’s
BALTIMORE — Gleyber Torres has been known to swing out of his shoes on occasion. This time, he ran out of his shoes — and into an out. After leading off the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 4-1 victory over the Orioles on Friday night by drilling a liner into the left-field corner, Torres elected to try for a triple when the ball was bobbled by Trey Mancini.
But about halfway between second and third base, the 21-year-old rookie’s spike went flying off his left foot and into the air. As a result, he stumbled a little bit but didn’t fall, the slight hesitation causing him to be tagged out by ex- Yankee Jace Peterson on a close play as he slid headfirst into the bag.
“I was not impressed enough — he was out,” Aaron Boone said. “We were over there going, ‘You ever run out of your shoes before?’ I didn’t even see the throw come in because I saw the shoe go flying and I was just hoping he could stay on his feet.
“We considered challenging, but we got the word not to challenge. It was a good at-bat. He made the first out at third there when he almost fell, but we can laugh about it now.” Torres said that was the first time that had ever happened to him. “When I felt it I said, ‘Wow,’” he said. “But I couldn’t go back (to second) because I thought I had a chance (at third). My teammates were laughing when I went back to the dugout. They were saying, ‘It’s weird.’ Something like that.”
Said Aaron Judge: “I wish he was safe. It was funny. He lost his shoe and just kept going.”
Judge joked that he told Torres, “Tie those shoes a little tighter. They shouldn’t be coming off like that.”
Torres finished with two hits — including an RBI single that got the Bombers on the board in the third. He has 27 RBI in his first 34 games in the big leagues, and is hitting .361 with runners in scoring position — continuing his May surge in June.
“He’s swinging the bat well,” Judge said. “It’s fun to be around him and watch him develop.”
Judge himself blasted his 16th homer of the year — a 438-foot solo shot with one out in the seventh. In 30 career games against the Orioles, the 26-year-old right fielder is hitting .343 with 13 homers. His 2018 OPS stands at 1.009. He also has five outfield assists.
“He’s got a tremendous baseball IQ,” one scout said of Judge. “In terms of hitting we talk about offensive discipline and pitch recognition. Those are two of his strengths. And it’s not just his hitting. It’s his defense. He’s got an unbelievable arm. He’s the total package.”
Judge has looked like a much better baseball player than Giancarlo Stanton, who went 0-for-4 on Friday night and is currently in a 2-for-23 funk. Stanton’s OPS against righties is .602, and it could make a lot of sense for Boone to drop him out of the cleanup spot with a righty on the mound.
Regardless, Judge’s consistency from Year 1 to Year 2 — as well as Stanton’s struggles — have been overshadowed by Torres, who stole the spotlight once again on Friday night. Shoeless To’ pulling a Shoeless Joe.