In a 12-2 game, Gleyber Torres decided he didn’t need to run down the first-base line. Yankee fans were rightly furious.
Look, the odds of a Yankees comeback at that point in the game were slim, if not nonexistent. New York has looked lifeless the last two games after winning series in Boston and Toronto when they needed them most.
It turns out a pet turtle can only bring with it so much luck.
But let’s leave Bronxie out of this. The Yankees have looked completely inept over the weekend, when even a win would pretty much guarantee them postseason baseball. Down double-digit runs to the Rays in the eighth inning, Gleyber Torres had a chance to get on base and perhaps give fans something, anything, to cheer about.
Instead, he jogged down the line.
Gleyber Torres jogs and looks over his back on a dropped third strike, and... he didn't make it in time pic.twitter.com/skuOZmbW3m
— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) October 2, 2021
Torres assumed he’d be thrown out quickly, but instead had every opportunity to reach base on the dropped third strike.
Yankees: Aaron Boone didn’t pull Gleyber Torres aside for lack of hustle
Typically, a player on a well-coached team wouldn’t dare jog down the line in the middle of a pennant race. The Yankees are not that well-coached team.
Boone left it to his veterans to pull Torres aside and let it be known that a lack of effort wouldn’t be tolerated.
Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner had a talk with Gleyber Torres after he did not hustle to first on a passed ball that would have allowed him to be safe easily pic.twitter.com/jDMBUxJSqF
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 2, 2021
Good on Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge for making a point of Torres’ lack of hustle. However, this isn’t the first time Torres has had his effort brought into question.
Clearly, Boone didn’t make enough of a point of it the first time around.