Didi keeps coming through in clutch

Didi Gregorius laughed at the suggestion. He doesn’t consider himself clutch. His body of work, however, would suggest otherwise. Tuesday night was the latest example, the Yankees’ shortstop notching two hits in his final two at-bats, both in crucial situations, in a come-from-behind 6-4 victory over the Astros to even the ALCS at two games apiece. “He’s obviously not afraid of the moment,” Chase Headley said. “He’s relaxed,” Todd Frazier said. Gregorius tripled and scored in the seventh as the Yankees trimmed two runs off their four-run deficit. He singled in the eighth, and scored on Gary Sanchez’s go-ahead tworun double. Both hits came to the opposite field, further illustrating his evolution as a hitter.

“They were throwing me fastballs away almost the whole game, might as well try to hit it where it’s pitched,” he said.

This performance was nothing new. Gregorius has hit safely in six of the Yankees’ 10 postseason games, five of them wins. His finest moment came in Game 5 of the ALDS against the Indians, when he homered twice and drove in three runs in the clincher, something his predecessor Derek Jeter never did.

Gregorius was coming off a stout regular season, when he posted a strong .287/.318/.478 slash line with a .796 OPS. He hit 25 home runs, eclipsing Jeter’s franchise record for a shortstop, 87 RBIs, and hit .313 with a .921 OPS with runners in scoring position and two outs.

“He had big hits all year us,” Headley said. “He’s a guy that’s aggressive in the box. If you throw it over the plate, he’s going to hit it hard. Those situations really play to his strengths.”

When he comes up in a big spot, Gregorius tries not to overthink the situation. He attempts to forget about how important the at-bats are this time of year. He’s merely looking to stay focused on the task at hand, and get on base by any means necessary.

“It’s the same baseball game,” Gregorius said. “Just try to do the job.”