Pedro Martinez may have disapproved of Gleyber Torres taking a respectable second base in the head of the ninth inning with a six-run lead in the Yankees’ ALDS Game 1 triumph over the Rays in San Diego, however Tampa Bay director Kevin Cash didn’t.
“None whatsoever,’’ Cash said before Game 2 on Tuesday. “We’d be doing the same thing, I assure you.”
Following Monday’s game, Martinez, the previous Red Sox extraordinary and current TBS telecaster, called Torres’ choice “a mistake.”
“You respect the opposition, because you expect them to respect you,’’ Martinez said. “And what you do is you add fuel to the fire, and later on if they bust you back, don’t think that they don’t respect you or they don’t like you. It was just that, that was a terrible mistake. I hope you learn, and the next time just don’t do that.”
The play came during the Yankees’ five-run game, when they blew the game open.
After Aaron Hicks’ RBI single made it a two-run game, Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam to put the Yankees up by six runs.
With two outs, Torres singled and swiped second against Shane McClanahan, who was making his MLB debut. The Yankees stacked the bases again in the inning before DJ LeMahieu grounded out to end the inning.
All things considered, in a game that had a consolidated six homers, it was difficult to state even a six-run lead was far off.
