NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was removed Friday night from an 8-5 loss to Toronto by manager Aaron Boone for not hustling, sending a message to the clubhouse of a team that has struggled since mid-June.
Torres did not run hard out of the batter’s box on his second-inning drive off the left-field wall, thinking it was a home run, and reached only first base with a single. That cost the Yankees a run when he was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Anthony Volpe’s two-out double into the left-field corner.
Boone and Torres had a discussion on the dugout steps as Torres tried to persuade the manager to keep him in the game. Oswaldo Cabrera took over at second base in the fourth inning.
“I just felt like I need to in that spot,” Boone said. “I’m not going to get too down the rabbit hole of making judgment on this one. … It’s over with. We’ve got to move on. He had I have spoken and hopefully this is a great learning moment for all of us.”
Torres was in the dugout cheering for his teammates in the late innings and was apologetic after the game.
“I think he did the right thing, especially in the moment,” Torres said. “I feel really sorry for whatever I (did) tonight, especially for the fans and also for my teammates. I’m a human being and I make an error and I feel like for whatever I do tonight, I’m going to learn a lot.”
