Sanchez blast can’t atone for big whiff

Gary Sanchez finally rewarded the faith that Aaron Boone has kept in him throughout the ALCS. It just may have come too late. After sinking to 2-for-23 in the postseason Thursday night, Sanchez delivered a two-run home run in the sixth inning of Game 4 at Yankee Stadium. But the damage was already done at that point as the Yankees went on to lose to the Astros 8-3, falling to a 3-1 series deficit.

“All these at-bats, I’ve been battling, trying to find my way,” Sanchez said through an interpreter. “I had confidence in myself and was able to put a good swing on that ball. I’m hoping this is it, this is what gets me back on track. Looking forward to [Friday].”

Sanchez had a chance to change the narrative about him earlier in the night, when he walked to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the first inning with the Yankees leading 1-0. The crowd was ready to explode and the Yankees appeared ready to pounce on Zack Greinke, who had just issued a four-pitch walk to Brett Gardner to walk in a run.

But Greinke needed just three pitches to retire Sanchez, who whiffed at a slider in the dirt for Strike 3 as boos rained down heavily on his walk back to the dugout.

“No question, that’s an opportunity,” Boone said. “That’s also taking a two-out hit. Chances are you’re not going to get a two-out hit. But if we’re going to break through and have success, we’ve had our chances here these last few days, we’ve got to come up with a big hit in a big spot.”

It was Sanchez who got the crowd back into the game in the sixth inning. The Astros had just taken a 6-1 lead in the top of the frame on Carlos Correa’s threerun shot, but Sanchez crushed a 98 mph fastball from Josh James into the left-field seats to make it 6-3.

The home run was Sanchez’s first extrabase hit of the playoffs. He finished the night 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, falling to 3-for-25 with 12 strikeouts this October.

“We gotta forget about these three games we just lost,” Sanchez said. “We believe in ourselves. We gotta flush it out and come back ready to play [Friday].”