Washington’s teen dream gets best of Torres — for one night
Even though the Yankees (43-20) fell a game behind the Red Sox (47-22) in the American League East standings, they remain two games up on their rivals in the loss column, and now they welcome the unimposing Rays into town for four days. This game featured some red flags in the forms of a shaky Sonny Gray start (five innings, four earned runs) and underwhelming offense (1-for-7 with runners in scoring position). They’ll live, though. It’s OK every now and then to admire what you see on the other side of the field.
Soto came up with his team trailing, 3-1, in the top of the fourth inning with two outs and team- mates on first and third. He went with an outside fastball from Gray, sending it to left field that looked off the bat like a flyout to Brett Gardner. That’s how Gardner reacted. Instead, the ball carried over the wall, giving the Nats a 4-3 edge.
“I was surprised, yeah,” Soto admitted. “I hit it pretty good, but too high. I was running the bases, saying, ‘Keep going, keep going, keep going!’ ”
“I thought it was a slicing foul ball that reached the seats foul,” Boone said. “It kind of held and I saw Gardy overrun it a bit. Obviously a strong kid.’’
Torres countered in the bottom of the fifth with his 12th homer of the season off Nats starter Erick Fedde, an estimated 435-foot shot that cleared the visitors’ bullpen. That 4-4 tie lasted until the top of the seventh, when the lefty-swinging Soto pummeled a Chasen Shreve fastball behind the Yankees’ bullpen — an estimated 436 feet, f ittingly 1 foot longer than Torres’ — to give the Nats the decisive edge.
“He is young and has a good swing,’’ Shreve said, accurately.
Nats reliever Ryan Madson described Soto as “old-school,” explaining he was “quiet, humble, respectful.” Sounds an awful lot like Torres or Miguel Andujar, or Aaron Judge for that matter.
A talented youngster who plays the game right? Baseball will take as many of those as it can get. And the Yankees just can’t have them all. Not at the outset, anyway.