Bat a boy! Romine provides ‘O’ spark
When Austin Romine fills in for Gary Sanchez behind the plate, his concern is his starting pitcher.
“Anytime I do something with the bat,” the Yankees backup catcher said, “it’s a bonus.”
But that doesn’t mean how he performs at the plate is insignificant. It brought a smile to his face when he was asked about his first three-hit game of the season, which helped the Yankees to an 8-4 victory over the Angels at the Stadium on Wednesday night.
“I like to think of myself as not just an out when I go up there,” Romine said after the Yankees snapped a seven-game losing streak. “I’m trying to put together productive at-bats. Tonight it just kind of fell my way. I’m happy with it.”
He singled in the second and the fourth, and he delivered a ringing two-run double to the left-center field gap in the sixth, driving in two big runs to extend the Yankees lead to 5-2. It opened the floodgates, as the Yankees tacked on another run in the frame, on an Aaron Hicks infield single, and added two more in the seventh.
“I tried to keep it as simple as possible,” said Romine, who also helped rookie left-hander Jordan Montgomery navigate through 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball for his fifth victory. “When you’re not getting a lot of at-bats, you can’t get away with stuff you would normally say [if ] you’re playing every day. I tried to simplify it as much as I could. It’s a good stepping stone. We’ll see if I can be consistent with it.”
Romine performed very well when Sanchez missed 21 games with a strained right biceps, hitting .339 with 10 RBIs in 16 starts. But he had struggled in his backup role, just 5 for his last 49, and entered Wednesday night’s game producing a meek .218/.241/.300 slash line with a .541 OPS.
“When the at-bats go away, it’s hard to be consistent at the plate,” he said. “I’m still trying to find a way. My job is to catch every whatever day it is, give Gary a break. I just got to find a way. Tonight I found a way a couple of times.
“It was a good night. I’ll just smile, be happy about that.”