Another Gary Sanchez goof almost ruins it for Yankees

by Felix Pantaleón

Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez should have stopped a ball that eventually led to a run in a tight 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 (5/8/18) at Yankee Stadium. With the win, the Yankees moved into a tie for first place in the AL East.

NEW YORK — The Yankees escaped thanks to the muscles of Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge and because Luis Severino could work around not having his best stuff.

Gary Sanchez‘s weakness — still as glaring as ever — didn’t help at all.

Sanchez had yet another ball-blocking lapse in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium — a problem that the 25-year-old worked to fix all offseason yet clearly remains.

This time, it led to a run scoring and Severino working harder than he was supposed to.

Takeaways from Yankees’ win over Red Sox

With the count full against ex-Yankee Eduardo Nunez to start the fifth, Severino got Nunez to swing over a slider in the dirt. The ball fell just short of its mark and bounced under Sanchez’s glove and to the backstop.

That allowed Nunez to reach despite the strikeout. He eventually scored on a two-out single by Andrew Benintendi. That cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1.

Boston tied things at 2-all when Mookie Betts tripled home Nunez in the seventh. Aaron Judge put them ahead for good in the bottom half of the frame with a hard single to left field, scoring Neil Walker.

Sanchez’ miss was called a wild pitch but Sanchez should have been able to stop it.

Sanchez said as much after the game.

“Yeah, definitely had a chance,” I just couldn’t block it (or) stop it right there. That contributed for Sevy to have to throw more pitches in that inning. I wanted to stop it and keep it there but unfortunately I couldn’t do it.

Sanchez entered the game with six passed balls — tied for the most in the league with Omar Navarez of the White Sox. Nobody else has four.

Sanchez tied for the league lead in passed balls last season and spent all offseason in the Dominican Republic losing weight and working on his flexibility, trying to get better at blocking balls — an issue that caused then-manager Joe Girardi to bench Sanchez two games last summer.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.

PROSPECT SPOTLIGHT

Tyler Nunez, a C from Lake Nona HS, is a 6'2 190lb athletic catcher who provides strength with the bat and glove. During BP, Tyler stuck with a middle of the field approach while staying on a line. He impacted the ball well with his compact and direct path, T90EV. He showed off his real athleticism behind the plate by posting a 2.04 pop time while staying around the bag on every throw. He is a good looking athletic uncommitted catcher to keep an eye on.