MONTY DAZZLES AS YANKS SURVIVE A REDS SCARE
Injured Bird confident he'll be back to old self after rehab
Didi Gregorius may be lost on the bases, but no Yankees hitter is more locked in at the plate.
Gregorius’ second-inning baserunning error Tuesday night resulted in the team’s first triple play in nearly six years, but the shortstop made up for his mistake with an insurance home run in the eighth inning in the Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Reds.
Gregorius went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and extended his hitting streak to seven games. Over that span, he is hitting .560 (14-for-25) with four home runs and zero strikeouts.
“The whole trip I think I was feeling good, and not trying to miss every pitch, and stay consistent, which I think is the hardest part of the game,” Gregorius said. “You’ve got to work on that. ... Before that, I had a couple weeks without getting any hits, but it finally turned around.”
After the Reds cut their deficit to 3-2 in the eighth inning, the Yankees’ lead didn’t feel safe, with the bullpen restoring Cincinnati’s confidence, and a struggling Aroldis Chapman scheduled to enter in the ninth.
Then, after two quick Yankee outs in the bottom of the inning, Gregorius homered to right-center off Michael Lorenzen. It was Gregorius’ 15th home run of the season, and his third in the past two games.
“He’s just not missing his pitches,” manager Joe Girardi said. “You look at that last at-bat, he fouls a few pitches off until he gets one that he can handle. When you’re going good, that’s what happens.”
What happened in the second in- ning is still hard for anyone who was at Yankee Stadium to comprehend.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Todd Frazier hit a ball hard to Reds shortstop Jose Peraza. Gregorius, who was on second, broke back for the bag, but the ball dropped, with Peraza turning two quick outs. Instead of then running to second, or going all out for third, Gregorius got caught between the bases, and eventually was tagged out in a rundown, producing the rare triple play.
“It’s a line drive, so you got to go back on a line drive,” Gregorius said. “I tried to go back, and then it bounced, and it was kind of right in between, so I started running to third, but I was caught halfway.”
Girardi didn’t think it should have been so confusing.
“If he would’ve kept running, I think he’s safe,” Girardi said. “But it’s a strange play.”
A week after undergoing surgery to remove a bone from his troublesome right ankle, Greg Bird was confident he would return to the level he reached before the injury he suffered during spring training sidetracked another season.
“I know how it feels and I know what I can do,” Bird said Tuesday in front of his locker at Yankee Stadium. “And that’s the relief.”
There hasn’t been much of that for Bird this season, whose problems began when he fouled a ball off his foot near the end of a terrific Grapefruit League season. He’s been sidelined since May 1 and was mostly ineffective even when he was on the field.
For most of that time, he was treated for a bone bruise until that cleared up and he still felt discomfort.
If Bird is discouraged by how long it took for the injury to be diagnosed, he insisted he wasn’t.
“I’ve asked [why],” Bird said. “Everyone worked re- ally hard on it. That’s how it goes. It’s not an exact science, figuring out what’s wrong.”
There’s no timetable for Bird’s return, but the Yankees are counting on him as their first baseman heading into next season.
He expects to wear a boot on his right foot for another “week or so” and he hopes that whatever rehab stint he needs won’t be excessive.
“It will be nice to focus on putting this behind me and start playing,” Bird said. “It’s feeling a lot better each day.” Joe Girardi said even with the addition of David Robertson — and Aroldis Chapman’s recent struggles — Chapman would remain the closer.
Chapman had been largely ineffective over the last month before he picked up the save with a perfect ninth in Tuesday’s 4-2 win over the Reds.
“I liked what I saw,” Girardi said. “He didn’t throw a lot of pitches and his changeup was pretty good.”
Heading into the game, the lefty had given up six runs — five earned — on 13 hits and six walks in his last 11 games, covering nine innings. Chapman had struck out 10 in that span and pitched to a 5.00 ERA.
“I have a lot of belief in [Chapman] and he’s gonna get things right,’’ said Girardi, who conceded the closer hadn’t produced his typical results lately.
“Usually it has to do with fastball command,’’ said the manager, adding the team still doesn’t know the root of Chapman’s issues. He missed a month earlier in the season with rotator cuff inflammation. Still, Girardi said he was hopeful Chapman would return to his old self.
“I don’t think it’s unrealistic,” Girardi said. “I expect him to be back. [He’s] our closer.”
Aaron Hicks (strained right oblique) took swings for a third straight day and is scheduled to take batting practice in the cage Wednesday for the first time since suffering the injury last month.
“I’m doing stuff with no pain,” Hicks said.
Tyler Austin (right hamstring strain) ran in the outfield, but there’s no timetable for either player’s return.
Michael Pineda, whose season is over after undergoing Tommy John surgery last week, acknowledged the timing of the injury wasn’t good, since he’s heading into free agency.
“I don’t know if it’s gonna be my last game here,” Pineda said of his appearance on July 5. “Hopefully not.”