ELL-UVA BLUNDER
If Jacoby Ellsbury is running in the first inning, he might not be sprinting on the final play.
Roughly three hours before Ellsbury was thrown out at the plate on the final play of the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Astros on Thursday night, the center fielder failed to take charge on a shallow outfield pop-up in the first inning — forcing shortstop Didi Gregorius to attempt an over-the-shoulder catch — which dropped, and allowed Houston to take an early lead it would never relinquish.
“Looking back I probably should have called it, even though I would’ve had to slide,” Ellsbury said. “It’s a tough play.”
It was the second at-bat of the game. Just four pitches had been thrown. The roll call still was being screamed from the rightfield bleachers at Yankee Stadium, working its way around the diamond.
Then, Josh Reddick made contact and the chanting stopped. Ellsbury stayed silent, too.
Gregorius chased after the pop-up to shallow center, with his back toward home plate, waiting for Ellsbury to call for the ball.
For as high as the ball was hit, and as long as the ball hung in the air, Ellsbury never turned on the jets that earned him a $153 million deal, opting against asserting himself on a play he could see unfold in front of him.
Two batters later, Carlos Correa blasted a two-run homer; an at-bat that potentially never takes place if Reddick’s ball is caught. Before Dallas Keuchel began steamrolling the Yankees offense again, the Astros ace had more cushion than he needed.
“I always go out there until they call me off,” Gregorius said. “He didn’t call me off, so I tried to make a play.”
Ellsbury’s night at the plate also started as poorly as Joe Girardi envisioned it could be when the manager benched the outfielder in the 2015 A.L. wild-card game against Keuchel and the Astros.
The 33-year-old struck out in his first at-bat, and hit into a double play in the third inning. With the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, Ellsbury brought home the Yankees’ first run on a catcher’s interference. Ellsbury has drawn catcher’s interference 28 times in career, which is one shy of Pete Rose’s all-time record.
“It’s definitely not some- thing I’m trying to do,” said Ellsbury, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI. “That would be an unbelievable talent.”
Ellsbury nearly erased the early miscue after singling off of Ken Giles with two outs in the ninth inning, reaching scoring position as the potential game-tying run after stealing second. Gary Sanchez singled and Ellsbury took off. Jake Marisnick uncorked a bullet from third, nailing Ellsbury at the plate for the final out.
If he had been running earlier, he might not have needed to sprint so late.