The New York Yankees were blown out by the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday evening by a score of 12-7. With the Yankees going into the sixth inning with a 6-2 lead, Toronto posted 10 runs to take a significant lead.
This game was a bit different than most, though. Yankees manager Aaron Boone elected to bench catcher Gary Sanchez in favor of back-up Kyle Higashioka. Higashioka was unable to get on base, striking out once over four at-bats. Yankees pitching was awful, at best. Jordan Montgomery gave up two runs over 3.1 innings, and Chad Green allowed three runs and recorded just one out. That led to Adam Ottavino’s six-run sixth inning, which included a grand slam.
Sanchez, who has been struggling this season, needed the time to clear his mind of all distractions. Ultimately, he’s a liability in the batting order, and his defense has been spotty at times. On Saturday night, he struck out four times over four at-bats in the Yankees’ loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Sanchez is currently hitting .130 with seven homers and 15 RBIs. He has struck out 48 times.
“Deliberated on it a lot last night. I just feel like this is the way I need to go right now with and hopefully a day off or two, or however I decide to do it here, can help get him going,” Boone said in a video conference Sunday afternoon. “It’s on all of us to get around him and try and help him get to what we know he can be.”
Of course, Sanchez wants to play at a high-level but simply hasn’t been able to get going. It is clear that he is a very confidence-based player, and his inability to get on base and hit consistently has been detrimental to that. Nonetheless, he has the talent to be a premium catcher in the MLB, but if he continues to struggle, the Yankees might be forced to look elsewhere.
“Gary wants to play, and to his credit, behind the scenes he’s working his tail off and wants to be in there,” Boone said. “But in the end, I think this is the best thing right now.”
This post was published on 2020-09-08 10:18
