On two occasions Saturday, the Yankees’ hustle was rewarded.
A sprinting Ben Rice made the Blue Jays pay when they literally dropped the ball. Gleyber Torres — yes, Gleyber Torres — dashed hard from first base to second to beat out what might have been a double play.
Both Rice and Torres came around to score on home runs, which are advisable for teams that train a spotlight on effort levels: Hit the ball far enough, and you can run as slowly as you want.
After Aaron Boone sent a message to the entire club Friday by benching Torres because the second baseman turned a potential double into a single, the Yankees responded by hustling — but more notably, by swatting three dingers that allowed them to ease around the bases in an 8-3 win over the Blue Jays in front of 40,218 sweaty fans in The Bronx.
The Yankees (66-46) bounced back from an all-around poor night and won their sixth game in seven tries using their legs, but using their might more.
“Long ball was big for us today,” Boone said after powerful swings from Aaron Judge (his 41st homer in yet another ridiculous season), Trent Grisham (seventh) and Anthony Volpe (11th) accounted for the first six of their eight runs, which proved plenty for Carlos Rodon and the Yankees bullpen.
Rodon allowed a solo shot to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first inning before Judge gave the Yankees their first lead of the series and one that they would not surrender.
The captain cranked a two-run homer into the visiting bullpen in left-center to tie 1927 Babe Ruth for the most first-inning home runs (16) in a single season in franchise history.
Judge has another 50 games if he wants to pass Ruth.
“It’s surreal,” Judge said about his company. “Anytime you hear any of those greats that are all around this building, all around the stadium, it’s almost kind of make believe, some of the stuff they did.
“To be mentioned in any type of category with those guys, it’s quite an honor.”
The Yankees wouldn’t face much drama the rest of the way, a respite after a dramatic Friday.
A night earlier, Torres was pulled after three innings for not hustling on a play that eventually cost the Yankees a run. The Yankees appeared to be on high alert Saturday, running out just about everything and converting two close plays into runs.
In the second inning, Rice sent a hopper to second baseman Spencer Horwitz, who dropped the ball, picked it up and fired to first base a split-second too late.
The rookie had hustled and reached on an error, which ensured there was a runner on base for Grisham’s blast to right that put the Yankees up three.
The lead was stretched to five in the fifth, when Torres’ legs came through.
After singling, Torres sprinted from first to second base on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. ground ball to first.
Guerrero dropped the ball, stepped on the base and threw to second, where Torres beat the tag by a hair.
Three pitches later, Volpe crushed his fifth home run in his past 11 games.
“Really hot day today, and I thought the guys got after it,” Boone said. “But I feel like that’s been the case. … Those are two big plays to extend innings.”
The hustle helped. The muscles helped more.
Volpe, in particular, has been a different slugger on the other side of the All-Star break.
He denied he has made much of an approach change, but his shot to left field was another example of the shortstop perhaps trying to pull the ball more often.
“Talk about not being a finished product offensively,” Boone said of Volpe, who owns an eight-game hitting streak and a two-game homering streak. “But man, the guy just has the ability to make adjustments.”
The Blue Jays answered with two runs in the sixth inning against Rodon and Jake Cousins, but that is as close as they would come, in part because they left the bases loaded in the ninth inning.
Insurance arrived in the late innings.
In the seventh, Volpe reached out and poked a single into left to drive in Judge (who was on base in four of five plate appearances, including a bases-empty intentional walk) for a four-run edge.
The lead became five in the eighth, when Austin Wells stroked an RBI single.
Fittingly, the Yankees ran away with this one.
“The way the guys are putting at-bats together and swinging it right now,” Rodon said, “We keep doing that … we can win a lot of games for sure.”