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The Yankees had already lost three points on Friday night in the second inning of their first game since losing five other players to COVID. It was a terrible start to the second half as well as a weekend streak against the Red Sox who won’t but could break their dead end season.
That’s when Gary Sanchez started a rally working a first run in the Yankees second against Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, bringing Gleyber Torres with an opportunity to continue.
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The Yankees need their few stars who aren’t on the IL to become huge as Aaron Judge and others are sidelined, and Torres quickly stepped in and kicked a high flyball deep into a First pitch fastball that nearly cracked the plate. As baseball did exceptionally well on that sweltering 92-degree night at Yankee Stadium, Red Sox right fielder Hunter Renfroe slid back and forth until he was against the wall, then …
It was only a long exit that did not clear the short porch by a foot.
Once again, Torres displayed warning trail power on his final no-hitting night, a 0-for-4 with a strikeout in what became a 4-0 Yankees loss that left them. left nine games out of the first and an embarrassing 0-7 against Boston.
Torres had plenty of people to empty out on a night the Yankees were shut out on three hits, but the shortstop’s power shortage continues to be one of a club’s intrigue. ball 46-44 underperforming.
In 78 games, Torres has scored six home runs after hitting just three in 42 games last year.
Those numbers are baffling as Torres was a circuit machine in his first two big-league seasons, scoring 24 in 123 games as a rookie in 2018, then 38 in 144 games in 2019.
This year, Torres started the season without a homerun in his first 31 games and he’s now 28 without going deep.
The Yankees know what the problem is, but haven’t fixed it yet.
“Well, I’m going to go back to some mechanical things in his hips which I think are a factor,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He probably hasn’t fully unlocked or mastered or come back to where he’s in that right, powerful and mighty position consistently.”
At this point, Torres would be content to get a few more hits, as he’s mired in a five-week slump that took his average down from 0.279 to 0.237. As of June 12, he’s only beaten 0.140 with six RBIs in his last 24 games.
Boone is confident that hits will start arriving in clusters soon.
He also expects Torres to eventually strike for power again.
“I think we’ve had a few glimpses of it,” Boone said. “He narrowly missed the ball he hit on the fence (Friday night). I thought he made some really good powerful and aggressive passes (last weekend) in Houston. Hopefully the power will follow, but more important for now I just want him to be really good at batting and be able to help us win ball games.
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