Gary Sanchez was widely criticized for a couple of poor-effort plays that cost the New York Yankees during their 7-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
During the first inning, Sanchez did not hustle to recover the baseball after he was charged with a passed ball. The result was a run coming around to score from second base.
Later in the game, Sanchez did not hustle out of the batter’s box following a ground ball that ended the game.
Crazy final play to end it. Sanchez dogging it to 1st is glaring. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/KJ4ewCe0ds
— Ryan Field (@RyanFieldABC) July 24, 2018
Sanchez was roundly criticized on Twitter for his lack of effort during the ninth inning. Here’s a sampling of what people were saying.
Not running hard to first base on a groundball can't happen, especially in that situation when you have a chance to tie the game, because the alternative is just unacceptable: Quitting on the play. That's what happened on that last Sanchez groundball.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 24, 2018
Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez on Gary Sanchez not running out of the box and costing #Yankees a chance to tie the game says on @MLBNetwork That’s ugly for baseball’
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 24, 2018
Yankee front office appeared to back Sanchez over Girardi last season. Bad call.
— Chris Moore (@mooretosay) July 24, 2018
Sanchez quit on the Yankees. He cannot play tomorrow. Embarrassment.
— Adam Schein (@AdamSchein) July 24, 2018
What Gary Sanchez did to end the game was lazy but when you factor in he jogged after a wild pitch in the first inning it’s downright pathetic. He needs to be sent to the minors to send a message. #yankees #garysanchez #NewYork #MLB
— Mark Genthner (@MarkGenthner) July 24, 2018
Sanchez jogging out of the box is unacceptable. If you arę healthy enough to płay, then you have to bust it. When you let it go on for so long, it will eventually bite you. It just did.
— Michael Kay (@RealMichaelKay) July 24, 2018
Tough night for Gary Sanchez. He was a disaster behind the plate, got in a dugout fight with his team's ace, and dogged it down the line to cost his team the game for the final out. Hate to see stuff like that happen all in one night. #Rays
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) July 24, 2018
I love Gary Sanchez very, very much. However, he needs to be benched for tomorrow’s game. I’m sorry. #Yankees
— Max Wildstein (@MaxWildstein) July 24, 2018
It was easy to see Sanchez appeared to loaf it on the way to first base. Data from Statcast supports what was seen on the broadcast and in the stadium.
Statcast on Gary Sanchez's game-ending, no-hustle groundout:
Home-to-1st time: 5.39 seconds
Sprint speed: 24.4 feet per secondHis season averages on max-effort runs are a 4.53-second home-to-1st and a 25.7 ft/sec sprint speed.
— David Adler (@_dadler) July 24, 2018
His effort on both plays seems pretty inexcusable.
