Gleyber Torres came through with a huge blast in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night to finally give the Yankees some much-needed breathing room as they extended their season by a day with an 11-4 win in The Bronx.
It came after a shaky beginning to the game for Torres, who was hitless in his first four at-bats from the leadoff spot and then made a miscue on defense that helped cost the Yankees a run when they were clinging to a lead in a game they had to win.
His slow toss to Anthony Volpe at second base in the fifth inning allowed the Dodgers to score a run, as the hobbled Freddie Freeman beat out a potential inning-ending double play.
Tommy Edman scored on the play to cut the Yankee lead to one run.
But Torres more than made up for that with a three-run homer in the eighth that put the Yankees up 10-4.
“It feels good to be able to help tonight,’’ Torres said. “We had guys on base and didn’t score the first two games. We had to change that.”
What went from a situation in which Aaron Boone may have asked Luke Weaver to get the final seven outs of the game heading into yet another potential elimination game became a bit of a late blowout, so Tim Mayza entered in the ninth to finish the game and allow Weaver some rest for Wednesday.
“To add on and get Weaver out of the game changed everything for us and will help [Wednesday],” Anthony Rizzo said. “That was the biggest part of that home run.”
Tuesday showed what the Torres experience can be like for the Yankees, as he’s made more than his fair share of mental mistakes throughout his career, but his bat always has the potential to change a game.
Torres was terrible at the plate for much of the first half of the season, but he responded well to a move to the leadoff spot and rebounded with a solid second half.
He followed that with a strong ALDS against the Royals and then an even better showing in the ALCS versus Cleveland, but he’s continued to make mistakes in the field.
Manager Aaron Boone went so far as to bench Torres during the season and Aaron Judge called out the second baseman, who often responds with stretches of strong play.
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And on the brink of elimination, Torres lacked the urgency necessary to make a quick toss to Volpe with Freeman hustling down the line to just beat Volpe’s throw to first.
Freeman, who also homered for a sixth straight World Series game, shook off his bad ankle to make it to first just in time, after initially being called out by first base umpire Chad Fairchild.
With the lead down to a run after Will Smith led off the inning with a homer off Luis Gil, the Yankees got an insurance run from Austin Wells, who went deep to start the bottom of the sixth.
And then Torres put the Dodgers away for good in Game 4 in the eighth.
