A MOMENT OF YOUTH
Gleyber debuts with victory as Bombers unveil under-30 lineup
Gleyber Torres didn’t get a hit in his major league debut, but he was part of something much more important.
“I expected to win the game and help the team win,’’ Torres said after playing nine innings of a 5-1 Yankees victory over the Blue Jays in front of 43,628 at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.
Considered among the top prospects in baseball, Torres went 0-for-4 and hitless in three at-bats with runners in scoring position, which i ncl uded banging i nto a 5-4-3 double play that ended the fourth. Torres did contribute to the Yankees’ third win four games by starting a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play in the sixth when the Blue Jays trailed by two.
With Luis Severino pitching like an ace for seven innings, the sizzling Miguel Andujar delivering four hits and an RBI, Didi Gregorius homering and driving in two runs, Austin Romine delivering a clutch, two-out, two-run double and David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman hurling scoreless innings, Torres’ bat wasn’t required.
“I feel happy for Miggy and Severino and the bullpen,’’ Torres said. “It was a good game for all and it’s a win.’’
To hear a 21-year-old talk about a win in his first day in the majors when he went 0-for-4 is refreshing because there is no more important statistic than a victory. The ocean of data being produced by the analytical arms of front offices can be helpful, but a win trumps any collection of numbers.
Having promoted him from Triple-A Scranton /WilkesBarre on Saturday night, the Yankees fully expect Torres to hit or they wouldn’t have made the move. Yet, to expect him to jump into the big leagues and rake immediately is wrong.
“He can hit,’’ Severino said. “Those [Sunday] numbers mean nothing.’’
On the other hand Severino’s numbers meant everything.
“That’s what an ace looks like,’’ Aaron Boone said of his No. 1 starter, who allowed a run, three hits and struck out two. He is 4-1 with a 2.32 ERA. Severino’s 112 pitches were the most by a Yankees starter this year.
Severino cruised through the first five before Teoscar Hernandez homered into the left-field bullpen with one out in the sixth that cut the Yankees’ lead to 3-1. A walk to Justin Smoak provided a drop of anxiety, but Severino induced Yangervis Solarte to hit a ground ball right at Torres that started a double play. After a scoreless seventh, Severino turned it over to the pen.
It’s between Gregorius and Aaron Judge as to who has been the Yankees’ best player through 20 games and Gregorius did his part with a solo homer off lefty Jaime Garcia in the first inning and a sacrifice fly in the seventh off righty Danny Barnes. The homer and sac fly raised Gregorius’ RBI total to team-leading 20. With six homers he is tied with Judge for the team lead. Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk and is hitting .324; Gregorius’ .333 average tops the Yankees’ regulars.
As for Andujar, he looks nothing like the hitter who started the season hitting .107 (3-for-28) with a .133 on-base percentage in his first seven games.
“Before the game he said to me, ‘I am feeling pretty good.’ I said, ‘OK, show me,’ ” Gregorius said of the 23-year-old Andujar who doubled over third in the second, singled to short in the fourth, crushed a two-run double to center in the sixth and singled to second in the eighth. “And he got four hits.’’
In the past six games, Andujar is batting .542 (13-for-24) with two homers and seven RBIs.
A lot was made of the Yankees’ starting lineup consisting of 10 players under 30 for the first time since 1989. That’s a tribute to the talent oozing out of the minor league system. And in the end it’s just numbers in a business that has been and always will be about wins, which Torres was a part of in his first taste of the big leagues.