Red Sox give up a ‘little league’ home run to the Yankees’ Gleyber Torres: ‘A lot to digest’

Wednesday night’s game showed why the Red Sox are last in the AL East when the defense wins the championship.

The ensuing frenzy was as painful to watch as it was predictable when Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a two-out hit to right field with runners on first and second in the fifth inning of a scoreless game. 

Here’s what happened before the game was screened. Right fielder Alex Verdugo cutoff his shot home instead of hitting his man, allowing Aaron his hicks to score easily after the throw went completely off line. Torres made the first significant turn when catcher Conor Wong, who played in his 14th game of the year, approached the line and clipped the ball.

When Torres was halfway down the line, Wong tried to backpick him instead of throwing second or chasing him. Verdugo used it properly again after losing connection with Christian Arroyo. Torres ran behind the judges on the throw-in, but was clipped this time and hit a three-run minor league home run to put his team up 3–0.

Here’s a quick, rough performance rating for bugs in this game:

• 3. Verdugo’s careless throw to Arroyo when Torres returns (possibly due to fatigue).
• 2. After the hit, Verdugo threw the first pitch, but missed the cutoff man, so the runners advanced and Torres moved to second.
• 1. With Torres on the way to second base, Wong threw the ball into the outfield and allowed a run on the third run.

The Red Sox continue to go through this sort of thing. Terrible things always seemed to happen when Jaren Duran gave up the ball at Fenway, but he conceded a grand slam from Hell in the Park. Torres has seven points in his last two games, including the winning point in the top of the ten on Tuesday night.

That mistake was more sincere, but it’s still a fundamental mistake and a worrying pattern for Red’s Sox in 2022. The fact that this happened against the Yankees only makes things worse.