Yankee fans are taking their frustrations out on Ali Sanchez. But manager Aaron Boone has his catcher’s back – for the most part.
After Sanchez made an errant throw to Ryan McMahon at third base with two outs in the 11th inning, allowing the White Sox to tie and eventually win the game, Boone defended Sanchez, though the Yankees manager was frustrated that a simple play went so awry.
“Just got to have a good throw,” Boone said after the 6-5 loss in 12 innings. “It’s playing catch. We’re big leaguers and we’re not gonna not do things. Obviously an option is hold it [the ball], but we got to play catch better there.”
With the Yankees leading the White Sox 5-4 in the 11th inning and a runner on third with two outs, Camilo Doval tossed a ball to Andrew Benintendi to make it a 3-0 count.
But instead of just holding the ball, Sanchez threw to McMahon in an attempt to pick off Munetaka Murakami and end the game.
McMahon, in motion to get to the bag, couldn’t coral Sanchez’s wild throw, which ended up in left field and allowed Murakami to score the game-tying run.
One inning later, Edgar Quero – who has a .184 average – singled to win the game and give the Yankees a crushing loss.
The Yankees seemed on their way to a third straight win after taking a 4-0 lead into the seventh inning behind a dominant start from Cam Schlittler, but Chicago cracked him for a run that inning and then hit two homers in the eighth off Paul Blackburn to tie the game at 4-4.
The catching position has been an issue for the Yankees all season with starter Austin Wells hitting .159, struggling JC Escarra being demoted to Triple-A and Sanchez now standing out for all the wrong reasons.
noti.group’s Jon Heyman reported the Yankees were looking into Orioles All-Star Adley Rutschman with the trade deadline approaching Monday.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
