Coach rants at sloppy play by Torres, mates
The rain came down in build-an-ark fashion.
And then the real torrent washed over the Yankees.
Third-base coach Phil Nevin had watched the Yankees fall far behind the Orioles on Wednesday afternoon with pitching and defense as crisp as a wet piece of uncooked pasta. Sonny Gray’s pitching, in what became a 7-5 loss, was awful. Gleyber Torres’ handling of second base was nearly as bad and the Orioles, who are on pace to win their 100th game sometime in 2021, led 7-1 in the third inning. So Nevin spoke up in the dugout. Loudly. Forcefully.
“When you go through this over the course of 162 games, you use different ways to fire the guys up,” Nevin said. “I don’t think I need to tell you guys, we’re a lot better than we [played] today. It wasn’t directed at any one person or one thing. it was more ‘let’s go.’ ”
The Yankees fell 5 ¹/2 games behind the Red Sox with a huge series looming in Boston. Play like that at Fenway for the next four days and the deficit will be 9 ½ games.
While Nevin and the players were quick to stress the comments weren’t directed at any individual, Torres volunteered a “my bad” over a couple of head-scratching plays.
In Baltimore’s five-run second inning, the Yankees anticipated a bunt from Caleb Joseph who, not shockingly, bunted. Third baseman Miguel Andujar fielded the ball. But Torres was slow getting over to cover first. Joseph had an infield hit, loading the bases.
“In the bunt situation Gleyber’s got to be covering first there and we were expecting a bunt … but the other one is a little tricky on how we’re positioned,” said manager Aaron Boone, who was far more laid back than Nevin.
The “other one” was in the third. With runners on first and third and two out, switch-hitter Breyvic Valera, batting lefty, hit a shot to Didi Gregorius at short. With a shift on, Torres was well off the bag, but didn’t break. Gregorius looked to second, then threw to first. Too late. A run scored.
“I know I missed a couple plays out at second base,” Torres said. “Really feel no good with that.
“And the thing is it’s not a good day. We lost,” added Torres, who smashed two homers, a solo shot in the second and a three-run blast in the ninth. “I know the hitter is coming to bunt. And it’s my bad not getting to first.” And on the other play? “I’m human. I make an error for sure,” said Torres, who when all is said and done, is 21 years old. “I try to be professional and be ready for the next time and see that it doesn’t happen anymore.”
That is basically what Boone wants.
“You’ve got to be moving toward the bag and a lot of that is youthfulness, is inexperience at the position and nuances where you just do things all the time second nature, which frankly, he for the most part is really good at,” Boone said. “I talk about how instinctive he is all the time. Those are a couple plays he has to be on top of more, but I also don’t want him to lose the ease with which he plays.”
Everyone wanted the rookie to know the whole team was at fault for the clunker.
“We were dragging a little bit. … That’s just how it goes sometimes so you take it,” Greg Bird said.
“We were playing a little flat … and [Nevin] sparked us a little. It was a good shot in the arm,” Neil Walker said. “Conversations like that happen more than you would think.”