With one out and runners on the corners in the bottom of the first, Anthony Santander fought off a blooper off the fists on an inside fastball from Luis Severino, and nearly everyone on the field thought it was an RBI single to break the scoreless tie.
Instead, Gleyber Torres, continuing his defensive renaissance at second base, raced over from the middle of the diamond to make a diving catch, and easily converting the double play after Trey Mancini had broken for second, also thinking Santander had muscled a base hit into the outfield.
“Play of the game,” Aaron Boone said after the 6-2 win. “From my vantage point, I didn’t even consider Gleyber making the play…huge play by GT there.”
Anthony Rizzo had the best view at first base, and also didn’t think his infield counterpart had a chance to make that play.
“No, not really, to be honest,” Rizzo said. “He was more up the middle. That’s a tough baserunning play, really, because you’re in no-man’s land. What a great momentum shift for us…it was definitely a good moment for us.”
The sparkling play helped Severino settle in and turn in one of his best starts of the season, as the entire Yankee pitching staff has benefited from an improved defense behind them, including from Torres.
“I think he’s been great all year defensively,” Severino said. “Because of that, I got out of that inning without a run.”
The metrics back up what the eyes have seen in terms of Torres’ improved defense. No longer worrying about handling a much more demanding role at shortstop, Torres is turning in his best season in the field, posting a defensive runs saved of +4, his best mark since logging a +5 DRS in his rookie season. That was the last time he wasn’t in the red in the DRS category, at any position.
With the infield defense bolstered around the diamond, Torres’ improvement is perhaps the most encouraging.
“I’m prepared before any pitch, and just try to be already for any situation and make any out possible,” Torres said.
“So far, we’ve played so good right now. We’re on the same page…just trying to get the routine plays and trying to make every out possible.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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