NOBODY'S PERFECT
SHREVE TAKES THE BLAME AFTER NATS PHENOM SOTO BLASTS SECOND HOMER
BRYCE Harper? Yesterday’s news.
Let’s discuss the inevitability of Juan Soto joining the Yankees.
The Post kids because The Post loves. Though the Yankees did receive a friendly reminder Wednesday night that they haven’t yet cornered the market on young talent.
Or did you not see Soto formally introduce himself on baseball’s biggest regular-season stage?
While Gleyber Torres went deep again, the Yankees rookie found himself upstaged by one of the few major leaguers younger than him. The 19-year-old Soto slammed two homers and drove home four runs to power his team past Torres’ Yankees, 5-4, at Yankee Stadium.
You have to work pretty hard to out-youth the Yankees nowadays, so tip your cap to the Nationals, a prospective World Series opponent whose young stud helped his club overcome a startling five baserunning errors.
“He has been really good since he came up,” Aaron Boone said of Soto, whom the Nats promoted from Double-A Harrisburg on May 20. “From where he started this year [Hagerstown in low Single-A], to be here, it’s a good reason, and we got a peek at it tonight. A couple of big swings that beat us ultimately. Obviously a good looking young player.’’
Or, as Nats manager Dave Martinez said, tongue in cheek, as he kicked off his postgame news conference, “I’ll start by saying that Juan Soto is very good.”
At 19 years and 231 days, Soto became the third-youngest player to take the Yankees deep twice in one game. The two younger guys, as per YES Network researcher James Smyth? Andruw Jones, who at 19 years and 180 days homered off Andy Pettitte and Brian Boehringer in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, and Ken Griffey Jr., who at 19 years and 190 days slammed a pair of round-trippers off Jimmy Jones on May 30, 1989.
“It feels very good,” said the Dominican Republic native Soto, who has quickly taught himself English. “Two of the good outfielders. … I like that.”
Chasen Shreve’s shoulders don’t match Aroldis Chapman’s in size and strength, but that is where the lefty reliever said the blame should go for Wednesday night’s loss. “I didn’t do my job and we lost the game because of it,’’ said Shreve, who gave up a monstrous homer to 19year-old stud Juan Soto that carried the Nationals to a 5-4 victory in front of a Yankee Stadium crowd of 45,030. Because Soto’s second homer of the game, which landed in the seats above the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center field, was the difference, Shreve is correct. However, he wasn’t alone in the blame department. Wanting to build on two consecutive strong outings, Sonny Gray gave up a run in a first inning in which he threw 34 pitches, and a three-run, opposite-field homer to left to Soto in the fourth. Yankees hitters went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Even the Nationals making five outs on the basepaths wasn’t good enough for the Yankees to avoid splitting a two-game interleague series. “It was ugly. We gave them five outs. Typically, you do that you don’t expect to win the game,’’ said Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who addressed his club on the issue. As for his team not delivering the timely hit, Aaron Boone said that is part of baseball. “That’s going to happen from time to time,’’ Boone said of his lineup failing to come through with a big hit in the seventh and eighth innings, when the Yankees went 0-for-5 in the clutch and left three runners on. “What we want to do is create traffic. The more consistently we do that, over time, the results will be there.’’
The Yankees’ lineup has been limited to 18 runs in the past six games, in which they have gone 4-2. In those six games, the Yankees are 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position.
The loss, coupled with the Red Sox (47-22; .681) beating the Orioles, left the Yankees (43-20; .683) two percentage points ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East. Asked why he had a brace on his right arm after the game, Gray didn’t give a reason other than to say, “I wear it every day.’’
After he escaped that first inning, Gray had a good feeling. That vanished in the fourth when he flushed a 3-1 lead that was provided by Aaron Judge’s first-inning sacrifice fly, Greg Bird’s solo homer in the second and Giancarlo Stanton’s RBI single in the third.
“Two-out walks always hurt, they are never good,’’ said Gray, who walked Daniel Murphy with two gone in the fourth and gave up a double to Matt Adams.
Soto, who bypassed Triple-A on the way to the majors, took a 1-0 pitch to left that Gray didn’t believe would leave the park.
“I thought it was foul ball,’’ Gray said of the three-run homer that drifted from left to right and landed in the second row of seats.
Gleyber Torres’ 12th homer off Erick Fedde starting the fifth tied the score, 4-4, but that was it for the Yankees.
Ryan Madson gave the Yankees life in the eighth when he walked Didi Gregorius and gave up a ground single to Stanton with one out. But Aaron Hicks struck out and Miguel Andujar lofted a stress-free fly to life.
Sean Doolittle worked a perfect ninth for the save.
Shreve was correct in taking the blame, and a good teammate doesn’t point fingers. However, there were more shoulders to help share the blame for game the Nationals tried to give the Yankees on the bases, but couldn’t.