Gleyber Torres’ terrible night in field cost Yankees | Rapid reaction

KANSAS CITY — Whomever first tweeted out the Yankees’ lineup for Friday night’s series opener against the Kansas City Royals goofed. The mistake had Ronald Torreyes playing second base and hitting ninth instead of rookie Gleyber Torres, and it ended up all over the internet. Misery Yankees endured on their long travel day to KC Then Torreys ended up on…

KANSAS CITY — Whomever first tweeted out the Yankees‘ lineup for Friday night’s series opener against the Kansas City Royals goofed.

The mistake had Ronald Torreyes playing second base and hitting ninth instead of rookie Gleyber Torres, and it ended up all over the internet.

Misery Yankees endured on their long travel day to KC

Then Torreys ended up on the initial lineup sheets printed out by the Royals.

Royals’ TV even got it wrong in the first inning.

If only Torreyes had been at second base all night …

Usually a stellar defender, Torres had a terrible night in the field and it cost the Yankees a couple of early runs in a 5-2 loss to the Royals.

“It happens,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s baseball. Good defenders are going to do that every now and then.”

Still new to second base, Torres frequently looked like a future Gold Glover in his first month as a big leaguer until his first game at Kauffman Stadium.

His drop of a popup behind second base in the first inning brought in the Royals’ first run and KC scored its second in the third inning when Torres dropped the ball throwing to first after fielding a two-out, bases-loaded slow roller.

“The groundball, it looked like it hopped up early in the grass and I think that threw his feet off a little bit,” Boone said. “And then, maybe it’s not locking in and maybe sure he’s finishing that play.”

Later, Torres made a real nice play charging in and band-handing a fifth-inning grounder before making a bad throw to first that would have been another error if not for a very long stretch by first baseman Neil Walker.

Meantime, Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia (2-1) wasn’t his sharpest pitching on seven day’s rest. In a five-inning outing, he allowed four runs, two earned, on four hits and four walks.

“If we catch a ball a little bit better, obviously it’s a much better fate,” Boone said.

After Torres’ error in the third inning, Sabathia walked the next hitter, Hunter Dozier, to force in a run that made it a 3-0 game.

The Royals took a 4-0 lead in the fifth on a solo homer by Salvador Perez. 

The Yankees cut the Royals’ lead in half in the sixth, but ended up losing their first full game since last Sunday.

The Yankees were off on Monday, then their short interleague series in Washington was reduced to a 5 1/2-inning suspended game on Tuesday and a rainout on Wednesday, then Thursday was another off day.

Friday night’s loss was just the Yankees’ fourth in their last 23 games. With Boston losing at home to Baltimore, the Yanks stayed a game up on the Red Sox for first in the AL East.

NOTABLE

— Torres had a good night at the plate, going 1-for-2 with two walks.

— Shortstop Didi Gregorius was 0-for-4 and now is hitting .248.

— Outfielder Clint Frazier is expected to make his season debut on Saturday with the Royals facing left-hander Danny Duffy.

— Designated for assignment on Tuesday, right-hander David Hale elected free agency instead of accepting an outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

— Third baseman Brandon Drury reported on Friday to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre three days after being optioned there. His delay was to make scheduled doctor visits in Connecticut for further treatment on his blurry vision and migraine headaches issues, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported. Drury did not play for the RailRiders’ on Friday night in Buffalo.

LOOKING AHEAD

Saturday: Yankees at Kansas City Royals, 7:15 p.m., EST, YES.RHP Luis Severino (6-1, 2.14 ERA) vs. LHP Danny Duffy (1-5, 6.51).

Sunday: Yankees at Kansas City Royals, 2:15 p.m., EST, YES. RHP Sonny Gray (2-3, 6.39) vs. LHP Eric Skoglund (1-3, 5.58).

Monday: Yankees at Texas Rangers, 8:05 p.m., EST, WPIX. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (4-2, 4.73) vs. RHP Bartolo Colon (2-1, 2.82).

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. FindNJ.com on Facebook