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Gleyber Torres Comments on Manager Aaron Boone Benching Him From Game

Torres failed to hustle out of the box on a line drive.

Josh Wilson

New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres
New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
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During the New York Yankees' 8–5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, second baseman Gleyber Torres was benched by manager Aaron Boone.

A bit before the decision to remove him from the game, Torres failed to hustle out of the box on a hard-hit ball that went off the left-field wall. Nothing catastrophic came of the play, he reached base safely, but Boone did not like the look of Torres failing to work hard out of the box.

Boone allowed Torres to play the top of the next inning, but removed him after that. Here is the play:

Cameras caught the interaction between Boone and Torres, where he appeared to let him know he was being removed from the game:

"He [didn't] like the way I didn't run in the moment to second base I think he did the right thing, especially in the moment... I always agree [with Boone]. As a professional, you have to take the consequence, especially in the moment, I don't have to think too much, I have to run and have to get on second, see what's happened. For one second I thought it was a homer, but unfortunately, it's just a single. I have to get better. And you know, I feel really sorry for whatever I do tonight especially for the fans and also for my teammates. I’m a human being, I [made] an error. And I feel like, from whatever I do tonight, I’m gonna learn a lot.”

Asked if he was surprised that Boone didn't take him out right when the play had happened, Torres said this:

"Yes, clearly [I was surprised]. But I mean, he's the skipper, he do the right decision, and you know, it's not excuses. I take it, just learn, like I say, and be ready for tomorrow." Later, when he was asked what the conversation entailed "I want to keep, really, privacy, but maybe looked bad, but it was a conversation just on what happened in the moment."

Torres, at one point, left the dugout and went into the clubhouse. He came back into the dugout and supported his teammates from the bench. Asked why, here's what he had to say:

"For my teammates, whatever I do tonight, I don't want to be the bad part of the night. I just want to be there with my teammates. Not on the field but just do the right support on the bench and just be there."

The Yankees play a matinee game Saturday, and Torres is back in the starting lineup.

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Josh Wilson
JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.

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