Gleyber Torres hero of heroes on Yankees’ 5-homer night | Rapid reaction

Rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres rebounds from bad night to hit tie-breaking homer in an 8-3 Yankees win in Kansas City.

KANSAS CITY —  The most compelling storyline of the Yankees‘ 8-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night wasn’t Clint Frazier flashing his talent and enthusiasm in a long-awaited season debut.

It wasn’t Aaron Hicks becoming the first Yankees player with two inside-the-park homers in the same season since Mickey Mantle had three in 1958.

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It wasn’t Luis Severino overcoming rare struggles while improving his record to 7-1.

It wasn’t Giancarlo Stanton hitting a towering 432-foot homer to center in the ninth nor Gary Sanchez following it with a 398-foot homer to left for his second of the game.

The hero of this night in which the Yankees’ flexed their offensive muscle with a season-high five homers was Friday night’s goat, rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres.

Rebounding from an uncharacteristic night of defensive struggles, Torres showed why he’s been called a future great by hitting a three-run, tie-breaking homer in the fourth inning for a 5-2 Yankees lead that held up.

“One of the things we love about him is the makeup,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He has a tough night? He doesn’t flinch because he plays the game with a lot of confidence because he’s really good at it.”

Torres’ fourth homer in 23 games was a no-doubter, too, a 407-footer off Royals left-hander Danny Duffy.

Torres blasted a high slider to left that sailed over the Yankees’ bullpen and into the seats.

The night before, Torres gifted the Royals two runs in the Yankees’ 5-2 series-opening loss by dropping a popup behind second base in the first inning and booting a groundball in the third.

There was a lot of other excitement for the Yankees, and it began in the third inning when Hicks blasted a deep drive off the right-field wall that become a standup inside-the-parker when the ball darted away from Royals right fielder Jorge Soler. 

On April 13, Hicks had a two-homer game in a win in Detroit that included an inside-the-parker that ended with a head-first slide into home plate.

His second was just one of many Yankees’ highlights.

One of the biggies was Frazier going 1-for-2 with a double and two walks in his first big-league game since suffering a concussion early into spring training that lingered for about two months.

Called up from Triple-A last Tuesday, Frazier hit seventh and was the Yankees’ DH. He walked his first two times up, then hit into a 6-4-3 doubleplay before lacing a double to center.

Severino had a rare off night in which he was tagged for three runs on eight hits over six innings.

NOTABLE

— Frazier will start Sunday’s game in left field.

— Sanchez was 4 for 5 with two homers and a double to raise his season average from .204 to .225.

— First baseman Greg Bird’s rehab assignment is being transferred from Double-A Trenton to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. He played his fifth game for Trenton and eighth overall on Saturday night. Out all season recovering from late March ankle surgery, Bird is expected to be off the disabled list and making his season debut before June 1 and maybe as early as next weekend. He was 1-for-3 with a walk on Saturday, but is hitting just .174 (4 for 23) with one homer in his rehab games.

— Reliever Tommy Kahnle is “really close” to coming off the DL, manager Aaron Boone said on Saturday. The righty has been sidelined since April 17 with shoulder tendinitis. He recently pitched in an extended spring training game in Tampa and is scheduled to throw another on Saturday. It’s possible he’ll rejoin the Yankees for their next series in Texas.

— Right fielder Aaron Judge was 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and now is hitless in 11 at-bats over his last three games after batting .385 (10 for 26) in his previous seven.

— Shortstop Didi Gregorius, who is riding a career-worst 1-for-41 slump, was given a day off to clear his mind and it appears that he’ll sit again on Sunday because Ronald Torreyes has been told he’ll be starting at short for the second day in a row.

— The Yankees signed right-hander Dale Hale to a minor-league contract on Friday for the third time since January. He’ll report to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

LOOKING AHEAD

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. Find NJ.com on Facebook.