Aaron Boone said it’s “impossible” to know if Gleyber Torres’ shift from shortstop to second base nearly two weeks ago triggered his resurgence at the plate.
Torres said “it’s hard to answer” whether it’s related.
At this point, the cause is not as important as the results — and Torres continued to produce results in an 8-3 win over the Red Sox on Friday night at Fenway Park.
He had three more hits and a pair of RBIs in the victory.
“There may be something to it,’’ Boone said regarding whether the defensive switch has caused Torres to relax at the plate — but he also offered another theory.
“It may be a good player starting to lock in this time of year,’’ Boone said. “All I know is he’s playing really well for us.”
Torres said he has looked at video from 2018 and 2019, when he was having more success at the plate, and that may have led to his solid streak at the plate. And he also has been better at second base.
“He’s done a good job since the first couple of games when he made some mistakes,’’ Boone said. “He’s looking like the hitter we know he is.’’
Torres, whose power has mostly evaporated this season, added his eighth homer of the season Friday to give the Yankees an insurance run in the seventh inning.
Earlier, he had a two-out single to drive in the final run of the Yankees’ three-run first inning against Nathan Eovaldi.
Since being moved to second, Torres is 14-for-39 with a pair of doubles, a homer and four RBIs and has an 11-game hitting streak.
The Yankees’ rotation should receive reinforcement in time for its critical series against the Blue Jays next week
Jameson Taillon is in play to be activated off the injured list to start one of the games during the series that runs Tuesday through Thursday in Toronto, with both teams in the heat of the AL wild-card race.
“We’re going to get through today and talk through that tonight, but [there’s] a good chance he’s starting one of the games in Toronto,” Boone said Friday.
Taillon, who went on the IL on Sept. 9 with a partially torn tendon in his right ankle, made what Boone called a “successful” rehab start Wednesday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, throwing 51 pitches while giving up two runs over three innings.
Before landing on the IL, the right-hander had a 4.41 ERA across 27 starts.
Luis Severino was expected to be available out of the bullpen Friday (but didn’t pitch) after bouncing back from his season debut Tuesday — his first appearance in nearly two years because of Tommy John surgery.
The right-hander, who threw two scoreless innings against the Rangers on Tuesday to close out a 7-1 win, could start seeing more high-leverage situations moving forward.
“I would say I’m glad he got that under his belt, the first one, and got a couple innings in,” Boone said. “I think that maybe expands his potential role this second time around. But again, especially coming out of the off day, you can look at our relief corps right now and I feel like there’s seven, eight guys or more that I feel good about being in a big spot in the middle-later innings of a ballgame. I think Sevy will work his way into that.”
Domingo German, who was activated off the injured list Wednesday, also figures to be in that mix.
Jonathan Loaisiga (strained rotator cuff) threw his first bullpen session since landing on the IL on Sept. 5 on Friday at Fenway Park. The Yankees’ most consistent reliever is likely to throw another session Sunday or Monday, Boone said, before potentially being cleared to be activated — unless the Yankees decide he also needs to face live hitters before he returns.
“We’ll see how he responds to this bullpen and if we do another one and then go,” Boone said. “We’ll just see how the next few days unfold for him and how he recovers.”
— Dan Martin in Boston and Greg Joyce in New York
