Giancarlo steps up when Yanks need him most
CHICAGO — The accurate image wouldn’t be Giancarlo Stanton putting this Yankees team on his back and carrying it to safety.
Think of it more like Stanton, the last tank standing, motoring through, undeterred by its isolation.
“It’s good to produce any way, any time,” the Yankees’ first-year slugger said, after hammering a grand slam to power the Yankees over the White Sox, 7-3, for a three-game sweep at Guaranteed Rate Field (worst ballpark name ever). “But this is obviously more important than most times here. Just got to step it up.”
When Aaron Judge went down with a chip fracture of his right wrist, the pinstriped universe turned its eyes to Stanton, the first-year Yankee and Judge’s behemoth in arms. With Gary Sanchez (strained right groin) also on the disabled list, it would fall upon Stanton, last year’s National League Most Valuable Player, to perform the bulk of the heavy hitting.
He doesn’t get an A, not after the Yankees suffered a fourgame Fenway Park sweep last weekend at the hands of the Red Sox that effectively ruined their American League East title hopes. Yet he hasn’t cowered under the heat — he totaled six hits, including one homer, against the Bosox — and this week in the Windy City, he helped ensure the Yankees would depart unscathed.
The Yankees were tied 2-2 in the top of the second inning on Wednesday night, RBI singles by Austin Romine and Shane Robinson neutralizing the Chisox’s two-run bottom of the first, when Stanton stepped to the plate against starter Lucas Giolito with one out and the bases loaded. He jumped on a full-count fastball and sent it just inside the right-field foul pole, over the wall, for his sixth career granny — first since April 18, 2014 — and 27th homer of the season, passing the idle Judge for the team lead. Luis Severino, who pitched seven innings and struck out eight, would require no further support.
“The important thing about hitting with the bases loaded is you can’t always try to get them all in,” said Stanton, who has slashed .283/.317/.522 in 104 plate appearances with the bases jammed. “One or two will do and then pass the baton over. If you stay like that, you’ll be pretty good with the bases loaded.”
In the 11 games since Judge suffered his injury, Stanton has put together a .260/.304/.560 slash line, with four homers in 50 atbats. If those numbers don’t help build an MVP narrative, nor will they prepare Stanton’s head for the goat’s horns. He has helped the team considerably in its effort to survive this stretch without Judge and Sanchez, two of its most dangerous hitters.
“He’s been such a pro through all this,” Aaron Boone said of Stanton. “He’s gained momentum, it seems like, all season long, and now we’re seeing the consistency. The quality of atbats. He’s really good at coming up with a plan for the guys he’s facing and committed to it and it’s netted him a lot of results.”
The 28-year-old seems far removed from his predictably rough April and May, when he earned more headlines for striking out and getting booed than helping the Yankees win ballgames. His true Yankees moment, a walk-off homer to beat the Mariners on June 20, seemed to liberate him, as, just like his manager noted, he has avoided the potholes he hit early.
“You can’t [attribute] it to just that,” Stanton offered of the walk-off shot. “But if you want to do a timetable from there, sure.”
Pressed on whether he feels the big hit helped, Stanton first offered another, “Sure,” eliciting laughter from the media around him, before declaring, “It’s neither here nor there.”
Hey, the man’s just trying to help with this column. Why not? Stanton apparently is in a helpful frame of mind, and the Yankees are the primary beneficiaries.