“You Gotta Make the Play”: Aaron Boone Slams Gleyber Torres After Yankees’ Series Loss Against the Division Rival

Though the New York Yankees have lost a series before, this defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles was particularly distressing. Nearly every weakness of the Bronx Bombers during the four-game stretch came to the picture. More importantly, all of them were exploited by the O’s. While Aaron Boone has always maintained his motivational approach, this time was different. After the game, the skipper lashed out at Gleyber Torres. 

Even though Torres’ hitting was one of the few bright spots for the Yankees, his defensive performance left much to desire. In a game where the Bronx Bombers’ attackers were already struggling, Torres’ missed double play proved to be a fatal mistake. Aaron Boone was visibly frustrated at Torres, though one can guess that his anger extends to other defensive errors that the team has made till now.

“You gotta secure the ball…it’s the big league, you gotta make the play,” Boone said in his post-game interview. “He didn’t make the play. But I don’t know if he was trying to do too much. Or because the ball being hit the way it did. It’s a chance at a double play ball, he’s made that play a lot. But didn’t in that spot.”

The situation arose when Anthony Santander hit a grounder up the middle that Anthony Volpe made a diving stop on. However, when he flipped it to Torres in the second base, the star dropped it. That led to them missing a chance at double play. Moments later Jordan Westburg hit a triple that scored both runs and increased the O’s lead to 6-1. 

That proved to be a game-set match for the Orioles. More importantly, it left the Yankees ruing their missed opportunities as the team slipped to no.2 in the AL East. To his credit, even Torres wasn’t happy with his performance.

“There’s no excuse”: Gleyber Torres upset after the Yankees’ loss

“That type of error, there’s no excuse,” said Torres on Yes Network. Even though the star hit his first homer of the season, his fielding mistake haunted him. “I think those couple runs were on me after my mistake. I feel bad for making that type of error in that situation.” 

Even though Torres is upset, it’s undeniable that it wasn’t just his mistake that cost the Yankees the game. Their batters’ failure to score any runs made things difficult for the entire defense. On top of that Carlos Rodon’s unexpectedly bad start led to the Orioles gaining momentum quite quickly. So as it stands, the Yankees need to introspect. 

Even though it is still May, there are some glaring holes in the squad. Can Aaron Boone find answers to some tough questions? The next series with the Orioles set for June – it’ll be interesting to see how the Yankees fare then.