ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — First came sprinting left fielder Cody Bellinger, followed shortly by diving infielder Trent Grisham and soon after that jumping shortstop Jose Caballero.
All three Yankees may have been outclassed by sliding reliever Fernando Cruz, who likes to remind his New York teammates that he was drafted as an infielder.
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Cruz’s defensive gem in a Yankees game that may get the most attention came when the right-hander intercepted Joc Pederson’s attempted sacrifice bunt between the mound and third base with two on and no outs in the eighth inning of New York’s 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
Cruz, still sitting with his glove on, dug out the ball and bounced it to third while falling to the ground, where Ryan McMahon stretched just enough to barely beat a sliding Josh Jung.
MVP slugger Aaron Judge, who was focused on backing up first base from right field because he was concerned about the potential for a wild pitch in that direction, said he heard Cruz harping on his past.
“I think I can trust him now,” Judge said with a laugh. “We’ll see. I need to see more good games like this. I’m more worried about him continuing to do his thing on the mound. I think we’ll be good.”
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Cruz, who escaped the inning with strikeouts of Jake Berger and pinch-hitter Ezequiel Duran, followed up his defensive masterpiece with seven straight strikes.
“I think I would describe myself as an adrenaline rush person,” Cruz, 36, said. Cruz was an infielder when Kansas City drafted him out of Puerto Rico in 2007, but converted to a pitcher before eventually reaching the majors with Cincinnati in 2022. “That’s who I am. I locked it in after that and everything just fell into place.”
Bellinger chased Brandon Nimmo’s leadoff fly ball into the left field corner to open the bottom of the first inning, and Grisham sprinted in and caught Jung inside for the second inning.
In the second inning, Caballero made a leaping play on Evan Carter’s shallow left-center softline.
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Grisham dealt with the injury in the ninth inning when his knee hit the wall chasing Danny Jansen’s 3-pointer in Texas’ first-round game. He stayed in the game and head coach Aaron Boone said he was fine.
The Rangers got within one run on a home run by shortstop Corey Seager, and second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. started a game-ending double with a grounder. Texas questioned whether Caballero completed the throw at second, but replays confirmed the result.
Grisham had another big play in the fourth quarter, knocking off a deep linebacker from Pederson on the right-center warning track.
“It’s the defense that carries the pitching,” Boone said after the team’s 10th win in 11 games. “There were times when we didn’t score a lot. Tonight we didn’t score a lot. When that happens, you’ve got to keep it clean to win.”
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Associated Press MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
