Gleyber’s sore knee no biggie
IT TOOK three days, but the Yankees finally figured out Mike Trout. Or maybe they just got lucky. After racking up a career-high five hits Saturday, Trout was quiet at the plate Sunday in the Yankees’ 3-1 win at the Stadium. He went 0-for4 and struck out twice, both while facing Masahiro Tanaka, who spun six innings of one-run ball to key the Bombers’ victory.
Trout did narrowly miss a home run in the third inning, though. Tanaka walked Zack Cozart with two outs to bring Trout to the plate, and on the first pitch, the Yankees righthander fired an 89.8 mph fastball to the lower-middle section of the strike zone — Trout’s sweet spot. The 26-year-old outfielder got his barrel to the ball and rocketed the pitch off the bat at 108.5 mph. But he got just
Gleyber Torres is dealing with a minor left knee injury and was not in the Yankees’ lineup Sunday afternoon for their 3-1 win over the Angels at the Stadium. But Torres reported feeling “great” after the game and wasn’t concerned about the injury lingering. He replaced Neil Walker at second base in the top of the eighth and flew out to center field in the bottom half.
Torres, who is hitting .320 with nine homers and 24 RBI since making his MLB debut in late April, landed awkwardly on the knee when he dove for a live drive in the third inning of Friday night’s 2-1 win. The ball deflected off Torres’ glove, and the rookie walked with a slight limp after rising to his feet after the play.
Before Sunday’s win, Aaron Boone said the injury is not significant. Torres hit a gamewinning home run in the seventh inning Friday night and played nine innings Saturday under it, and Aaron Hicks was able to make the catch in front of the wall in center field. “He killed that ball but straight up in the air,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the near-dinger. “He put a really good pass on that.” Otherwise, the Yankees stymied Trout, who homered on both Friday and Saturday. Tanaka battled with Trout in an exciting 10-pitch at-bat in the first inning. The pitcher won the duel when he forced Trout to swing through a high fastball on 3-2. Tanaka then struck Trout out on three pitches in the sixth inning, this time looking. The put-out pitch was a splitter that tumbled into the upper half of the zone. “I was watching the game last night and I obviously witnessed the type of damage that he put on us,” Tanaka said through a translator. “He is that key batter in that lineup and we can’t let him beat us. I think the thing is, you do have to be careful, but at the same time you really have to be aggressive. And I feel like I’m able to do that.” “I thought Masa executed,” Boone added. night. “Just the day game after the night game,” Boone said of his decision to keep Torres out of the lineup. “That ball he dove for a couple nights ago, just kind of banged up his knee a little bit. He could’ve absolutely played. …But it was just something we felt like, day game after the night game, it would be best to give him a blow.”
Trout came to the plate for the fourth and final time in the eighth. Dellin Betances walked Cozart to open the inning, bringing up Trout as the potential game-tying run. Betances wanted to keep Trout off-balance, so he threw a breaking ball on the first pitch of the at-bat. Trout took it for a strike. Betances then came back with a fastball that missed just high before dropping another curveball in for a second called strike. Two pitches later, Trout grounded out to short.
“I feed off those situations. I enjoy facing the best guys in the game, and he’s been the best player in the game for quite some time now,” said Betances, who’s allowed two runs in his last eight innings.
“I was looking forward to that matchup if it happened, and it did. I was on the good side there. But you got to make sure you bring your A-plus stuff against him. You never know. He can definitely do some damage when he’s up at the plate.”
Boone is just happy his pitchers won’t have to face Trout again this regular season.
“I know Mike a little bit just from covering him and I really like him,” Boone said. “But I can’t stand seeing him walk up to the plate now. I’ll tell you that much. He’s really good.” strain, allowed four earned runs in 2/3 of a inning in a rehab appearance for TripleA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. He started the game, walked the first batter he faced, hit the second, walked the third and hit the fourth before allowing a basesclearing triple.
“He struggled a little bit this weekend, no question, with his at-bats and timingwise. Probably not seeing the ball great,” Boone added. “These first couple months he’s been in and out a little bit and just trying to find that good rhythm where he goes on a long streak where he’s really locked in. We haven’t seen that yet. But he’s also, as much as anyone, one swing away from changing the game.”
Didi Gregorius, meanwhile, went 0-for-3 Sunday, prolonging his slump. The shortstop is for 4 for his last 70 dating back to May 3. His season average has plummeted to .230.
“We’re all trying to get him right,” Boone said. “He’s too good a player, too good a hitter for it to go on too much longer.”