Gary Sanchez has taken a lot of heat from fans already this season for his apparent lack of hustle, and two bad moments in Monday’s loss will only make that noise even louder. Sanchez failed to hustle on a pair of key plays, Jake Bauers hit a three-run homer and scored with some nifty baserunning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Luis Severino and the New York Yankees 7-6.
Sanchez let a ball get away during the second inning of Monday’s 7-6 loss to the Rays, allowing Jake Bauers to score all the way from second base. Sanchez seemed to jog after the ball not expecting Bauers to attempt to score. In the dugout after the inning, Severino and Sanchez could be seen having a heated conversation.
“That’s another instance there, if I would have done a better job being quicker, getting that ball, maybe we have a chance to get him out at home,” Sanchez said via a translator. “That’s my fault.”
Then in the ninth inning, Sanchez again showed a lack of hustle by not running down the first base line on a ground ball with two outs and the bases loaded. The Rays initially tried to make a force-out at second base, which Aaron Hicks beat out, but then threw to first to get a jogging Sanchez. New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez admitted that his lack of hustle might have prevented his team from scoring the tying run in the ninth inning Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Instead, Sanchez was retired on a grounder for the final out as the Rays held on for a 7-6 victory at St. Petersburg, Fla. With Tampa Bay ahead by one run, the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, Sanchez came to the plate against Rays left-hander Jose Alvarado.
The Rays employed a defensive shift, and Sanchez hit a hard grounder to second baseman Daniel Robertson, who was stationed behind the bag just to the left side of the infield. Robertson fielded the ball and flipped it to shortstop Willy Adames, who was racing toward the base. Adames got to the bag too late as baserunner Aaron Hicks slid in safely.
Adames then alerted noticed that Sanchez wasn’t far up the first base line, and he fired over to first to retire Sanchez by a step to end the game. Sanchez didn’t run hard out of the box, and he only broke into a sprint when he saw Hicks get called safe at second.
“I should’ve run harder,” Sanchez said, via an interpreter. “I could’ve done a better job, for sure. You learn a lot in this game, and this (is) one of those instances where you learn from it. You put it behind, and you look forward to tomorrow.”
Sanchez sustained a groin strain running out a grounder on June 24, and he only came off the disabled list after the All-Star break last week. However, both he and Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Sanchez is now fully healthy. Boone added, “I’d have to watch (the replay), but he’s got to find his gait quickly, and he should be able to do that now. … I want him running at that smooth clip that I’ve talked to you guys about, and part of that is getting out of the box.”