Boone: Keep focused, Torres
BOSTON — Aaron Boone doesn’t want Gleyber Torres to eliminate the facility with which he plays the game. However, the manager would like the Yankees All-Star second baseman to pay better attention after the rookie twice botched plays on Wednesday because he lost focus.
“That’s my expectation for him and for our guys is that we’re going to be great at this and that’s every play every game. This is a game you got to be completely locked in on things,’’ Boone said Thursday before the Yankees opened a crucial four-game series against the Red Sox with a 15-7 loss. “And also coupled with the fact I don’t want him to change the way he plays the game because there is an ease with which he plays this game that you can’t teach and I think will allow him to be a special player.’’
When Torres hit a hard smash in the seventh inning on which Boston second baseman Ian Kinsler made a backhanded stop in short center field and threw him out at first, it appeared the rookie was slow getting out of the box. Boone, however, said he couldn’t address it because he hadn’t seen it.
“I didn’t see that,’’ Boone said when asked if he had seen Torres, who went 0-for-3 with a walk, break slowly out of the box.
Aaron Judge hasn’t been cleared to begin baseball activities, but he did add outdoor work to the program on Thursday by running sprints and the bases as well as performing stretching drills.
Judge is on the disabled list with a fractured right wrist, suffered when he was hit by a pitch on July 26.
After being elevated from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, right-handed hitting Luke Voit was in the starting lineup as the designated hitter against Red Sox lefty Brian Johnson. He went 0-for-4, but hit the ball hard twice.
“I was part of the Cubs-Cardinals [rivalry] and this is super similar, but a bigger stage,’’ Voit said of Yankees-Red Sox. “I played here [Fenway Park] last year. It’s a fun place to play. It doesn’t get any better than this.’’
Voit was acquired from the Cardinals on Saturday along with international signing bonus pool dollars in exchange for Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos.
Voit appeared in eight bigleague games for the Cardinals this year and batted .182 (2-for-11) with a homer and three RBIs. He played in two games for SWB.
The Yankees have lost six of their past eight games at Fenway Park and are 1-3 in Boston this season. … Justus Sheffield, who could be a starting option sometime this season, allowed one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings Thursday for Scranton/WilkesBarre.