What a run! Yanks’ Torres scores from 1st on infield single

NEW YORK (AP) — Gleyber Torres kept going and going and going.

No matter that a grounder by Aaron Hicks barely reached the outfield grass, Torres never stopped.

By the time Torres tumbled across home plate, he had amazingly scored from first base on an infield single, a daring dash by an infielder not known for speed.

“Incredibly heads-up play by Gleyber,” New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Thursday’s 7-4 loss to Houston. “I saw him racing around second, I’m like, `Oh yeah, OK.”’

If anyone had ever seen a play like this — aside from Little League, perhaps — no one could remember it.

New York had fallen behind 5-3 on José Altuve’s three-run homer off Chad Green when Torres singled off Ryan Pressly leading off the eighth.

Torres spoke with first base coach Reggie Willits, who reminded him to check the defense. Torres

saw the Astros shifted to the right side Hicks, a switch-hitter batting left-handed.

Hicks hit an 84 mph, one-hopper to shortstop Carlos Correa, who tried for a backhand grab by the edge of the infield dirt.

The ball kicked off his glove and rolled just onto the grass. Third baseman Alex Bregman had put his foot on second base, waiting to receive a throw from Correa for a possible forceout.

“I saw Bregman on the base, so I saw I got an opportunity to move to third,” Torres said.

Correa picked up the ball as Torres had rounded second. Having no play, Correa held onto to ball and then flipped it Bregman, who was standing just to the shortstop side of second.

Catcher Martín Maldonado, who was responsible for covering third because of Bregman’s absence due to the shift, rushed up the line and was still about 20 feet from the base by the time Torres got to third.

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Torres slowed slightly, saw where Maldonado was and sped home despite third base coach Phil Nevin’s stop sign. Maldonado vainly tried to chase down Torres, like a slow-moving long distance runner unable to make up ground in a marathon’s final yards.

“Maldy was supposed to cover third, but Gleyber can run. Maldy was running as fast as he could to cover third and then he had to retreat,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “He certainly didn’t want to catch the ball on the run, then that could have been another run, and then the runner gets in scoring position.”

Pressly had stayed on the mound, forgetting he had the responsibility of covering the plate when Maldonado moved toward third. Pressly kept turning around to follow the action, llooking incredulous as the play unfolded.

“I saw the pitcher stay on the mound,” Torres said. “I just kept running.”