Yankees' Gleyber Torres disappointed about not starting but picks up key sacrifice fly
Gleyber Torres #25 of the Yankees connects on his pinch-hit game-tying tenth -nning sacrifice fly against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Friday, Apr. 8, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Gleyber Torres didn’t start on Opening Day, but he sure had a hand in finishing off a Yankees win.
Torres, who spent the first nine innings on the bench as DJ LeMahieu started at second base, hit a sacrifice fly with one out and the bases loaded in the 10th to tie the score in the Yankees' 6-5, 11-inning victory over the Red Sox on Friday at Yankee Stadium.
“The first thing, I was mad, but I got one night" to settle down after learning he wouldn’t start, Torres said. “I just want to do the right thing for my team . . . I feel like I’m prepared every time for those situations and thank God, I got an opportunity to do something.”
Aaron Boone said before the game that he was hoping to use Torres in a big at-bat and that the Opening Day decision doesn’t mean fans won’t see plenty of Torres this season.
“It was ultimately a tough call,” Boone said. “Somebody had to sit, and I wouldn’t read that much into it other than that.”
Boone said day-to-day decisions will rely on a host of factors, including matchups and rest, and that he’s in constant conversation with bench coach Carlos Mendoza.
“I think it’s the right thing to do today to have him in that lineup,” he said of LeMahieu, who homered in the eighth to tie the score at 4-4. “I want him in the middle of our lineup. I feel like he’s in a good place leaving spring training and heading into the season. I feel that way about Gleyber, too, and you’ll probably see Gleyber in there after today. And maybe he has the most important at-bat of the game today. Who knows? Probably in there the next three, four, five, six days in a row.”
Both LeMahieu and Torres performed well in spring training and the Yankees are carrying three second basemen on the roster — those two and Marwin Gonzalez, who made the team after coming into spring training as a non-roster invitee. He hit .375 in 24 at-bats.
“It’s going to work itself out over time,'' Boone said, "and it’s going to serve them well because they’ll be able to protect each other along the way.”
Locker shuffle
Aaron Judge has taken the coveted corner locker in the back of the clubhouse that usually is reserved for team leaders. It formerly belonged to Brett Gardner. The other such locker belongs to Gerrit Cole (it’s CC Sabathia’s old digs).
“It’s an incredible honor,” Judge said. “They asked me if I wanted to be down here, and I said I didn’t think I deserved to be down here. That means a lot.''
Balkovec wins debut
Rachel Balkovec, manager of Class A Tampa, won her debut on Friday as the Tarpons beat Lakeland, 9-6.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
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