Yanks’ Torres benched by Boone for not hustling

NEW YORK — Gleyber Torres‘ frustrating season encountered another pothole Friday night when manager Aaron Boone benched him during the third inning for a lack of hustle in the New York Yankees‘ eventual 8-5 loss to the last-place Toronto Blue Jays.

Torres prompted the move with a blunder in the second inning. Thinking he had clobbered a home run, Torres walked out of the batter’s box admiring the 110.7 mph line drive off his bat. But the ball bounced off the left-field wall. By the time he realized his made a mistake, it was too late. What could have been a one-out double was a single.

Two batters later, the gaffe cost the Yankees a run when Torres, trying to score from first base, was thrown out by several feet on Anthony Volpe‘s double to left field. One inning later, Boone, historically averse to benching players midgame for a lack of hustle, chose to sit the second baseman, who pleaded his case in the dugout to no avail.

After the game, Torres said he was surprised by Boone’s move but added that the manager made “the right decision.”

“I have to get better,” Torres said. “And I feel really sorry for [what I did] tonight, especially for the fans and also for my teammates. I’m a human being. I made an error and I feel like from what I did tonight I’m going to learn a lot. And I just want to compete with my teammates and I want to play great. And do 100 percent for my team.”

Torres was not benched immediately; Boone had him play defense in the top of the third before pulling him. After the game, Boone said he opted to wait a half-inning to give Oswaldo Cabrera, Torres’ replacement, time to warm up.

“I just felt like I needed to [bench him] in that spot,” Boone said. “I’m not going to get too down the rabbit hole of making judgments on this one. I just felt like, in that moment, I needed to do that. Simple is that. Is what it is. It’s over with. You got to move on. He and I have spoken and hopefully this is a great learning moment for all of us.”

Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ team captain, said he also had a conversation with Torres after the benching, though he declined to divulge any details. He said Boone’s decision sent a message to the clubhouse.

“Yeah, definitely,” said Judge, who hit his 40th home run of the season with a 477-foot blast in the first inning. “If you’re not doing your job, you’re going to be out of there. He’s made that clear to us and made it clear to him. If I know Gleyber, something like this ain’t going to happen again.”

Judge stressed that Torres’ decision to reemerge from the clubhouse to be with the team as it tried to mount a comeback to extend its five-game winning streak mattered to him and other teammates.

“Big time,” Judge said. “He could’ve hid from it. He could’ve, after the game was over, showered, been out of here and we’ll see you at 10 o’clock tomorrow. But he came back out. He was there. He was cheering. He was high-fiving guys. He’s a part of this team, he’s a big part of this team.”

Hanging in the backdrop of Torres’ disappointing season is the understanding that he likely won’t be part of the team beyond 2024. An impending free agent, Torres entered the season knowing a superlative walk-year performance would yield a hefty multiyear contract over the winter, perhaps from the Yankees.

Instead, despite markedly improved production since Boone benched him “to get a little reset” in late June, he is having the worst season of his career. Torres, in his seventh season, has posted what would be career lows in batting average (.233), on-base percentage (.308) and slugging percentage (.669). He has committed 14 errors, four more than any other second baseman in the majors.

“It’s tough, but things will turn,” Judge said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s going to continue to go out there and continue to keep doing his job. And his teammates are going to keep supporting him.”

Boone said Torres will be back in the Yankees’ lineup Saturday afternoon with a chance to turn the page.

“As a professional, you have to do the right thing and always run,” Torres said. “Do the right thing. There’s not any excuses, not any conversations. I’ve been in the league for a long time now. I have to be more mature in that situation and just play hard.”