MLB playoffs 2018: How Yankees’ Gary Sanchez reminds teammate of Dodgers’ Manny Machado

Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez was a hero of Saturday’s Game 2 ALDS win over the Boston Red Sox with two homers and four RBI.

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NEW YORK — While Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez was seated in a Fenway Park conference room late Saturday night talking about a personal slugging performance that keyed a 6-2 ALDS Game 2 victory over the Boston Red Sox, one of his newer teammates was throwing out compliments left and right during a clubhouse interview.

Reliever Zach Britton, a Yankee as of late July, says no matter what opinions fans and media have formed from Sanchez’s many passed balls, that he’s actually very good at calling the right pitches at the right time while controlling opponents’ running game.

It’s deja vu all over again: Sanchez pulls a Yogi in Game 2

And as for those two homers that Sanchez hit in Game 2, Britton says that he just knew something like this was going to happen soon.

He felt this way even though Sanchez hit just .186 this season with awful struggles before and after his two long DL stints.

Watching Sanchez this season, Britton thought of witnessing the great Manny Machado go through some horrific struggles when they were both Baltimore Orioles from 2012 through this summer.

For instance, Machado, who now is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ shortstop, went into a Yankees-Orioles series in the final weekend of May 2017 hitting .220 and three games later he was down to .205 after going 0-for-14 with eight strikeouts. Machado eventually got hot and finished with a .259 average and 33 homers.

“The numbers that (Sanchez) had in the regular season don’t reflect who Gary Sanchez is and I think everyone knows that around this league and it was just as matter of time before he starts stinging the ball,” Britton said. “He had some injuries and he’s a guy that maybe for the first time struggled, and sometimes it’s hard to get out of it.

“I’ve seen guys do that. I’ve seen Manny Machado do it. He’d go through a little bit of a funk and then he gets out of it, then he is who he is. I think that’s where Gary is right now. He’s starting to find his stride.”

Sanchez had it in Game 2.

In the second inning, Sanchez blasted a shot to left off Red Sox lefty starter David Price that landed in the second row of the Green Monster seats to add to a 1-0 Yankees lead.

Later, Sanchez gave the Yankees more breathing room with a 479-foot homer to left-center in the seventh off lefty Eduardo Rodriguez that made it a 6-1 game.

Britton was happy for Sanchez.

Britton also liked the job that Sanchez did catching him when he came out of the bullpen to pitch a scoreless eighth inning.

He knows about Sanchez’s 18 passed balls, which led the majors, but thinks the catcher’s positives behind the plate outweigh the mistakes.

“The first couple times I threw to him we were just getting used to each other, but every time I throw to a new catcher it’s always a challenge and he’s done a great job back there calling a game and slowing things down when things need slowed down,” Britton said. “With me especially, he doesn’t sit there and call all fastballs. He’s mixing me up with breaking balls to keep hitter’s off balance, so you know that he’s thinking.”

Britton is thinking this night could be the start of a hot streak similar to he saw playing against Sanchez in recent seasons.

While with Baltimore, Britton only faced Sanchez once and he retired him. But he remembers seeing Sanchez rake in Yankees-Orioles games. Britton also saw a lot of TV highlights from 2016 when Sanchez hit 20 homers in a 53-game rookie season and from his 33-homer 2017 campaign.

He saw the same guy in Game 2.

“I think his plate coverage looks a little bit better and then I think he’s been able to fight some pitches off,” Britton said. “Sometimes you get pitchers’ (good) pitches and you have to fight them off to stay alive. I think then he’s hitting some mistakes. He’s working his at-bats a little bit better. That’s what he did last year.”

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