TORONTO — It will take more than one swing to declare Gleyber Torres as “back,” but he took a step in the right direction Friday night.
After returning to the lineup following a two-day benching to get his mind and swing right, Torres crushed a two-run homer and recorded his first two-hit game in over a month to help the Yankees thrash the Blue Jays 16-5 at Rogers Centre.
Torres, who spent the last two days trying to find his swing, was retired in his first two at-bats Friday, sinking him further into a 2-for-31 slump. But he rebounded by drilling hits in his next two at-bats for his first multi-hit effort since May 26. He also added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to give him three RBIs on the night.
”Happy because I did something for the team,” Torres said. “It shows a little bit [how] I’ve been working those days. Proud of myself to help my team tonight.”
The home run came in the sixth inning to cap off the Yankees’ seven-run outburst that changed the game. Torres turned on a 2-0 inside fastball from Blue Jays reliever Nate Pearson and drilled it 385 feet to put the Yankees up 7-3.
“I feel like I’m more focused right now,” Torres said. “I don’t want to put so much pressure on myself. The first couple at-bats, I just missed a couple pitches. … But I stayed focused. I think in the past, I was a little more frustrated and tonight it was more motivated.”
Manager Aaron Boone said before the game he hoped Torres’ two days off would serve him and the team well, but that there were no guarantees.
Boone felt the brutal start to the season — Torres entered the night batting .215 with a .628 OPS — had been weighing on the second baseman, who is in the midst of a contract year.
At least on the first night coming out of the break, though, Torres was able to be productive.
“I thought he took some good swings tonight,” Boone said. “I thought got some good swings off within some at-bats. Hopefully a little building block for him and hopefully something that gets him rolling in the right way.”