Gary turns on power, from 9th spot in lineup
On Friday, Aaron Boone was concerned that Gary Sanchez had not returned to full strength after having had COVID-19. So he dropped the catcher to the ninth spot in the lineup. Sunday, Sanchez showed he’s feeling strong enough with his 15th career multi-home run game, including his third career grand slam in the Yankees 8-7 loss to the Orioles at the Stadium.
“I just really wanted to attack pitches in the strike zone. I was ready to attack the pitches and today, I was able to connect and I thought that I did a good job at doing that today,” Sanchez said through Yankees translator Marlon Abreu.
Friday night was the first time in Sanchez’s career that he was started in the last spot in the lineup. Boone justified it as him “finding his way,” after COVID-19 and that the Bombers had a stacked lineup full of sluggers.
He became just the fourth player in Yankees’ history to drive in six runs from the nine spot, the first since Joe Girardi, who knocked in seven on August 23, 1999.
Sanchez reminded everyone he is one of those sluggers with one swing against the Baltimore lefty Keegan Akin Sunday. Akin left a 94 mph fastball up and in Sanchez’s wheelhouse. The catcher turned on it and then stopped to watch it disappear into the second deck. He tossed the bat and jogged around the bases for his first grand slam since last August against the Mets. It was his 19th home run of the season and the first of the day.
His second, a two-run shot in the sixth, also to left field, gave him his first multi-home run game since Sept. 3, 2019.
It’s been a long two years for Sanchez. Not only is he coming off having COVID-19, he basically lost himself at the plate last season and lost his starting job. He reconstructed his swing earlier this year and is looking to finish strong.
“The whole year has been a year of hard work and making adjustments actually at the plate. Today I wanted to be aggressive with those pitches in the zone and really good results there,” Sanchez said. “I just want to keep the pace going.”
TORRES TOUGH DEFENSE
The Orioles were able to get back into Sunday’s game sparked by Cedric Mullins’ two-run shot off Albert Abreu in the sixth inning— but it never should have come to that. Gleyber Torres was slow on a routine ground ball that Kelvin Gutierrez beat out with two outs immediately before.
Torres attributed it to being extra careful because of the wet conditions at Yankee Stadium.
“The field is a little bit wet, I mean there’s a lot of water. I just try to grip the ball really well and don’t throw bad to first base,” Torres said. “I mean, he hustles really well to first base and I take too long to throw him. He’s safe on the base.”
Torres knows he needed to make that play.
“For sure. It is a really easy play for me. Every time I make it,” Torres said. “I was just making sure I grip the ball really well because like I said the field is really, really wet, but it’s my mistake in that situation.”
It wasn’t his first mistake of the day.
Though Sanchez was charged with the error, the shortstop was at fault in the first inning on an attempt to catch Mullins stealing second. Sanchez’s throw was fast and right on target, hitting Torres in the glove. He just couldn’t hold on to it.
KLUBER CLOSE?
In his second start after missing nearly three months with a shoulder injury, Corey Kluber did not look close to the two-time Cy Young winner who threw a no-hitter back in May. The right-hander allowed two runs on four hits. He walked three and hit a batter. He struck out five.
“I think there were flashes where we executed pitches. I think all the movement on the pitches, the profiles of them are there,” Kluber said. “It’s just a matter ofI got to do a better job of consistently harnessing that to execute them where we want them to be.”