Gary Sanchez may have cost the New York Yankees a win on Monday with his lack of hustle on more than one play, but apparently he has a valid excuse for why he was unable to go full speed.
Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports was told that Sanchez re-aggravated his groin injury on the now-infamous passed ball that allowed a run to score in the first inning of New York’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. The catcher is said to have hid the injury from the team out of fear of returning to the disabled list.
Word is, Gary Sanchez may have re-aggravated groin injury on first inning passed ball last night. He’s getting killed for “lazy” plays but perhaps this explains them. Was afraid to tell team initially because he dreads return to dl. Now will get treatment, try to avoid dl.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 24, 2018
On that particular play, Sanchez nonchalantly jogged to the ball after it rolled down the third base line. His lack of urgency allowed a runner to score from second base. Sanchez later cost the Yankees what would have been the game-tying run in the 9th inning by not hustling to first base on a ground ball.
Crazy final play to end it. Sanchez dogging it to 1st is glaring. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/KJ4ewCe0ds
— Ryan Field (@RyanFieldABC) July 24, 2018
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game that the groin injury that landed Sanchez on the DL recently had nothing to do with his mishaps on Monday. Those comments came immediately after the game, so perhaps Sanchez hadn’t yet informed the team that he re-injured the groin.
You could argue that the people who roasted Sanchez on Twitter were a bit premature, but either way he has no excuse for costing the Yankees. If he was hurting to the point where he couldn’t do his job adequately, he should have taken himself out of the game.
