By Ryan Hatch
NEW YORK — Yankees‘ shortstop Didi Gregorius crushed his first home run of the season Friday night, a three-run blast in the fourth inning to right-center that cut the Rangers’ lead to 7-4.
But no glory was to be had, as just an inning before Gregorious let a ground ball scoot under his glove the he was trying to back-hand, allowing two runs to score. It was the difference in the game as the Yankees lost 10-9. (The Rangers had the bases loaded with no outs when it happened.)
“I look at that as probably trying to do too much,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Just get the one out. I think that is the important thing. I don’t think you have any chance at turning two.”
The “doing too much” excuse sounds familiar. After Didi Gregorius made a base running error the first week of the season, Girardi said the same thing.
Indeed: 42 games into the season, and Gregorius seems to be repeating the same mistakes that are costing the team runs and games.
“I was trying to go to the plate and save the run but it cost more,” Gregorius said. “That was a bad mistake.”
Gregorius finished the game with those three runs driven in and no, the Yankees wouldn’t have been close to winning without his homer, but the disastrous third inning (seven runs allowed in total) may not have happened without his fifth error of the year.
“It wasn’t a good feeling for me or for our team,” he said.
Gregorious said his first home run as a Yankee wasn’t one to celebrate because of the way the game ended up. In general, Gregorious isn’t hitting well enough to mask his blunders in the field and on the bases. Through Friday, he’s hitting just .217 with 10 RBI, three of which came on that swing.
“I feel comfortable,” he said. “As a player, you always want to play hard. So I think sometimes maybe I play too hard or overdo some things.”
It is becoming a theme for the Yankees shortstop this season.
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