After the Yankees singled the Rays to death on Saturday, they broke out the big lumber in their 10-4 win on Sunday. The Bronx Bombers homered four times to bring their division lead back up to 5.5 games and four in the loss column.
Gleyber Torres accounted for half of those home runs. The second baseman ripped an opposite-field three-run homer in the first and went back-to-back with Giancarlo Stanton — who also blasted a three-run shot — in the second for his 21st of the season. For Torres, it was his 12th career multi-homer game and second this season, the last coming on May 24 against the Baltimore Orioles.
“Look, he’s a really good player,” said Aaron Boone. “When he’s at his best he’s a guy that lengthens our order and is a tough out against really good pitching. He’s done it in his playoff career. When he’s at his best, he’s special out there.”
The 25-year-old broke out in a big way this weekend after entering the series slashing .181/.223/.295 since the All-Star break. Torres admitted he was trying to do a little too much at the plate during his slump.
”[If you] asked me a month ago about hitting it wasn’t really good for me,” said Torres. “I feel like in August I just missed too many pitches. As a hitter and as a player when you’re struggling you try to do a little bit too much. But I got really good people behind me and I just believe in myself and go out there and have fun.”
The Yanks clubbed three homers in the second inning, the third coming off the bat of Oswaldo Cabrera. The 23-year-old’s no-doubter into the right field bleachers was the first of his major league career.
“I feel so good, I feel so excited about it, it feels amazing,” said Cabrera. “That moment when I got that swing, right off the bat I knew that I got it. I’m [going to] give that ball to a family in Miami. They are the family of my brother’s wife and for me, they are like a father and mother.”
For the second straight game, the Yankees batted around in an inning. They recorded four walks, four hits and seven runs in the second — totaling 10 in the first two frames — continuing their weekend outburst.
Luis Patino lasted just two outs longer than Saturday’s starter Corey Kluber. The right-hander was ambushed with nine runs on five hits while walking four before being removed with one out in the second inning after tossing just 70 pitches.
The Bombers offense turned it on after entering the weekend averaging just 3.3 runs per game since Aug. 9. This marks the fifth time they’ve scored double-digit runs in back-to-back games, the last time being July 16-17 against the Red Sox.
Aaron Boone gave the Rays a taste of their own medicine with his pitching formula on Sunday. Domingo German started the game on short rest, however, a two-hour rain delay likely hindered the plan for him to throw 45 pitches. German managed one scoreless inning on 14 total pitches.
From there, Boone called on eight different pitchers to finish out the final eight innings. In order: Lucas Luetge, Greg Weissert, Wandy Peralta, Lou Trivino, Ron Marinaccio, Clarke Schmidt and Clay Holmes. The bullpen combined for eight innings allowing four runs while striking out eight.
“Coming into this day, I knew we were going this route,” said Boone. “I would say we sorta scripted it out, pretty close. Clarke [Schmidt] giving us a little bit of length there at the end gave us some wiggle room. It went somewhat according to plan.”
The Rays four runs were charged to four different pitchers in the form of Luetge, Weissert, Marinaccio and Holmes.
The Bombers early onslaught was all they needed as they finish their season series against the Rays winning 11 of their 19 matchups. If the AL East comes down to a tiebreaker, the Yanks would have the edge due to their head-to-head record.
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Source: Berkshire mont
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