CLEVELAND — Gleyber Torres wore it Wednesday, but on Thursday the Yankees shortstop earned it. Torres bounced back from an embarrassing night when he let the frustration get the best of him, with three hits Thursday as the Yankees beat Cleveland, 6-3, at Progressive Field.
That broke a streak of eight straight games with four or fewer runs. The last time the Yankees (7-11) scored five or more runs was April 11 at Tampa Bay. It was, however, just their second win in their last eight games and they have a long way to go to get back on track.
But there were good signs.
Torres had his first multi-hit game of the year with three singles and an RBI. Kyle Higashioka, starting in place of Gary Sanchez, homered and doubled. Rougned Odor, who had been benched the last two games and was only back in the lineup because Gio Urshela was dealing with a tight back, singled through the gap into right field to drive in the two go-ahead runs in the seventh inning. Aaron Judge had three walks.
It wasn’t just encouraging with the bats.
Domingo German settled down after a sloppy defensive first inning that looked like it could unravel him and the Yankees. The 28-year-old, making just his third big league start since serving an 81-game suspension under baseball’s domestic violence policy, gave up three runs, two earned, on seven hits. He walked one and struck out six.
He became just the third Yankees starter to get through six innings in a start this season and snapped a streak of having allowed a home run in 12 straight starts, dating back to July 17, 2019.
It wasn’t a Yankees team busting out of a bad start, but it was a small step back in the right direction, especially for Torres.
Wednesday night, as the Yankees offense continued to fizzle and they lost their sixth game out of the last seven games, Torres finally drew the ire of the fans and the irritation of his manager when not running hard after his seventh-inning, check-swing ball went a few feet in front of home plate. Travis d’Arnaud easily threw him out at first base as he jogged up the first-base line.
That annoyed the Yankees’ usually even-keeled manager.
“I think any time you’ve got that kind of situation where a guy’s got to get off the mound, you’ve got to get after it,” Aaron Boone said. “I think initially, the check swing, probably in his mind it’s a foul ball right. Then it’s like, ‘Oh, no, I’ve got to get going,’ then you’re a little late. That’s got to be a little bit better obviously.”
Torres wore the mistake, admitting after the game, he’d let his frustration affect him.
“At the moment, really, I didn’t know if it was fair or foul. I didn’t see the ball really well,” Torres said. “I feel like I started running late, I feel like I can put a little more effort running to first base.”
Boone said before Thursday’s game that he called Torres into this office and expressed his displeasure with the lack of hustle Wednesday night.
The 24-year-old hustled Thursday and the Yankees were grinding, trying to get a team that has been shockingly awful offensively back on track.
Thursday night, with Urshela unavailable, Giancarlo Stanton needing a night off and Sanchez sitting (after striking out three times the night before) Boone flipped a few things around. He put in some lefties and dropped DJ LeMahieu, who went 0-for-5 Wednesday night, out of the leadoff spot.
He admitted he was looking to spark something with a shake-up.
“I wouldn’t say desperation, but certainly urgency, I think is fair,” the Yankees manager said. “And again, I remain really confident that our group’s going to turn this thing around offensively.”
The Yankees went into Thursday night’s game having scored the fewest runs in the and with the worst record in the American League. They had the worst slugging percentage in baseball.
While they have dismissed it as a small sample size, at least they recognized the urgency Thursday night.
