Yankees’ Gleyber Torres makes up for earlier blunder with a big homer late

Gleyber Torres came through with a huge explosion in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night, finally giving the Yankees some much-needed breathing room as they extended their season by one day. with an 11-4 victory in The Bronx.

It came after a shaky start to the game for Torres, who was hitless in his first four at-bats from the leadoff spot and then made a defensive error that cost the Yankees a point as they clung to a game-high lead. they had to win.

His slow throw to Anthony Volpe at second base in the fifth inning allowed the Dodgers to score a run, as the stumbling Freddie Freeman beat out a potential inning-ending double play.

Tommy Edman scored on the play to cut the Yankee lead to one run.

But Torres more than made up for it with a three-run homer in the eighth that gave the Yankees a 10-4 lead.

“It feels good to be able to help tonight,” Torres said. “We had guys on base and didn’t score in the first two games. We had to change that.”

What went out of a situation where Aaron Boone may have asked Luke Weaver to get the last seven outs of the game Heading into another potential elimination game, things turned out to be a bit of a late blow, so Tim Mayza came on in the ninth inning to close out the game and give Weaver some rest for Wednesday.

“To supplement that and take Weaver out of the game changed everything for us and that will help (Wednesday),” Anthony Rizzo said. “That was the biggest part of that home run.”

Tuesday showed what the Torres experience can be like for the Yankees, as he has made more than his fair share of mental mistakes during his career, but his bat always has the potential to change a game.

Torres was terrible at the plate for much of the first half of the season, but he responded well to a shift to the leadoff spot and rebounded with a solid second half.

He followed that up with a strong ALDS against the Royals and then an even better performance in the ALCS against Cleveland, but he continued to make mistakes in the field.

Manager Aaron Boone went so far as to bench Torres during the season and Aaron Judge called out the second baseman, who often responds with moments of strong play.

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And on the brink of elimination, Torres lacked the urgency needed to make a quick toss to Volpe as Freeman rushed down the line to beat Volpe’s throw to first.

Freman, who also homered for a sixth straight World Series gameshook off his bad ankle to reach first just in time after initially being called out by first base umpire Chad Fairchild.

With the lead cut to a run after Will Smith led off the inning with a home run off Luis Gil, the Yankees got an insurance run from Austin Wells, who went deep to start the bottom of the sixth.

And then Torres eliminated the Dodgers for good in Game 4 in the eighth.