Aaron Judge has lately shouldered a bulk of the offensive responsibility for the depleted Yankees, but Gleyber Torres is getting involved at the right time.
The second baseman blasted two home runs in the Yankees’ rain-delayed 10-4 drubbing of the Rays on Sunday in The Bronx. Not only did it mark his second two-hit performance in as many games, but it also was Torres’ 12th career multi-home run game and his second of the season.
August was a tough month for Torres, who only had 10 hits in 100 at-bats to go with five RBIs. In fact, Torres has struggled at the plate through most of the second half of the season. Now through nine games in September, Torres already has three home runs on eight hits with seven RBIs. He has a .241 batting average and a .333 on-base percentage in his last seven contests.
“I feel like in August, I just missed too many pitches,” Torres said after the win. “Of course, every pitcher I face they throw me really good pitches and I missed too many. As a hitter and as a player, you always try to do a little bit more. I got really good people behind me and also my teammates always give me really good at-bats.”
Torres, who went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and one strikeout on Sunday, put the Yankees on the board early in the first inning. After Judge singled and Giancarlo Stanton walked, the 25-year-old knocked the second pitch he saw from Rays hurler Luis Patiño 391 feet. Torres motioned to the fans to get louder as he crossed home plate.
His second homer of the day was a solo shot into the stands in left field after a 10-pitch at-bat, giving the Yankees an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the second.
“With Gleyber, I feel like it’s about him getting into strong positions with his lower half,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I feel like sometimes he gets disconnected. I feel like that was happening to him a lot in August where he’s kind of got that leg kick and gets underneath it. When he gets in that strong hitting position ready to fire, he gets off a lot more ‘A’ swings.
“He’s really good going the other way, but it’s getting in that strong [position] on that backside and letting it go. I feel like that’s happening more consistently here over the last week. He hasn’t gotten all results, either, but I feel like he is taking more ‘A’ swings more often.”
With so many injuries among key hitters like DJ LeMahieu (toe), Anthony Rizzo (back, head) and Andrew Benintendi (wrist), the Yankees have needed others to step up to provide more offense. Judge has certainly proved he’s capable of doing it all himself, but it’s not sustainable heading into the home stretch of the regular season. Torres’ uptick in production has helped ease the losses in the lineup.
When Torres is on, Boone said, he lengthens the Yankees’ batting order and can also serve as a tough out against top-tier pitching. The Yankees manager added that he hopes Torres can really get rolling at this crucial part in the season.
“I can’t lie, it’s just hard because [of] the situation the team passed,” Torres said when asked how difficult it’s been to mentally get through his struggles at the plate in the second half. “We lost so many games and everything is getting down. Myself, I don’t do anything for the team in that moment. Many conversations with a hitting coach and just try to figure out what I don’t do. I just try to go off what I do in the first half.”