BLUNDER TO BLISS
After triple play gaffe, Didi smacks HR
Todd Frazier, the Toms River, N.J., Little League star, made his home debut in pinstripes Tuesday in the Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Reds, but Frazier did not get off to a rousing start after he grounded into a triple play in the bottom of the second inning, his first at-bat as a Yankee in the Bronx. Didi Gregorius, the torrid-hitting Yankee shortstop who is now batting .307 after hitting his 15th homer in the eighth inning, got caught in a rundown during Frazier’s second-inning at-bat, and ended up getting tagged for the third out, completing the rare 6-3-5-6 triple play.
“I think I might have set a record for first-ever at-bat at the Yankees, getting a triple play, I mean that’s got to be a record,” said a smiling Frazier after the win. “It’s funny to laugh about it now, but at the time I was a little upset.”
The bases were loaded with no outs in the second when scorched a liner that Reds shortstop Jose Peraza fielded. Peraza stepped on second to begin a double play, and Gregorius, who was on second when the play started, hesitated when he started toward third base. Gregorius then got caught in a rundown between second and third, before he was eventually tagged out by Peraza. “It’s a strange play,” said Yankee manager Joe Girardi. “It’s a line drive, so you’ve got to go back on a line drive. I tried to go back to the bag,” said Gregorius. “I was kind of right in between. I started running to third, but then I was caught halfway. You know, it happens.”
The last Yankee to hit into a triple play was Russell Martin on Sept. 27, 2011 at Tampa Bay. Yankees southpaw Jordan Montgomery carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Reds right fielder Scott Schebler socked a double to right-center. Schebler later scored Cincinnati’s first run on an RBI groundout, but the rookie Montgomery (7-5) was brilliant in 6.2 innings of work.
Normally lights-out reliever Dellin Betances had a shaky eighth inning with the Bombers leading 3-1. He walked two of the first three batters he faced, and after recording two outs, surrendered an RBI double to Billy Hamilton that Aaron Judge leaped to catch and narrowly missed. Adam Warren replaced Betances and struck out Eugenio Suarez to end the frame.