The New York Yankees are coming off a series win over the Tampa Bay Rays, one of their more important victories heading into the final stretch of the regular season. The Bombers have now won six of their last eight games as they prepare to travel to Boston for two game split before making their way to Milwaukee.
The Yankees’ offense has scored 20 total runs in their last two games, giving up seven combined. Considering how difficult run production was to attain just last week, this explosion of offense against a quality Tampa Bay team is exactly what the Yankees ordered.
Of course, star slugger Aaron Judge has continued hitting at a magisterial rate, but two struggling players have stepped up their contributions lately.
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Two players turnings things around for the Yankees at the perfect time:
1.) Gleyber Torres
Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres had an abysmal August, hitting .180 with a 20.4% on-base rate. His September numbers aren’t much better, hitting .200 with a 30% on base rate, but he’s been far more effective the past few days compared to the start of the month. In his last two games, he’s recorded four hits, including two homers and five RBIs.
Manager Aaron Boone has been waiting patiently for Torres to turn his season around after struggling post-trade deadline. Rumors indicated the Yankees were potentially floating the idea of trading Gleyber, which may have infiltrated his confidence. However, he seems to be back to his normal self, hitting homers and taking names.
Torres has tallied 21 homers this season, elevating his average to .240 with a .719 OPS.
2.) Giancarlo Stanton
When both Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are slugging consistently, the rest of the Yankees batting order follows suit.
Stanton had labored after returning from Achilles tendinitis, hitting .130 with a 26% on-base rate at the end of August. His numbers in September are even worse, hitting .136 with a 17.4% on base rate, but everything has changed over the past two days. Stanton earned two hits and a homer against the Rays on Saturday, following that up with a two-hit performance, including three RBIs and a homer on Sunday.
Considering how electric the Yankees’ offense was to finish the series, it is no surprise that Stanton was a significant part of the production. He is still working his way back to his normal self, but hitting homers in consecutive days undoubtedly indicates he’s getting more comfortable in the batter’s box.