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Try it freeNow that the Yankees had won and his self-described “bone-head play” proved nothing more than a memorable folly, Giancarlo Stanton could let loose a bit.
Amid a boozy clubhouse celebration following the Yankees’ 4-0 Game 3 win over the Red Sox on Thursday night, Stanton took time to talk to the children and let them know they should always run out balls — even if he didn’t on second-inning double he believed to be a homer.
“The only doubt was if that was a homer or not whenever I hit it,” Stanton told YES Network in what resembled a wrestling promo. “Thank goodness for that bone-head play that the team was resilient enough, Cam (Schlittler) was resilient enough to go out and it didn’t mess up the chemistry or the moment, so that’s good.
“Kids at home, don’t do that. Future opponents, please do that. Bone-head play, I’m just glad it worked in our favor and it won’t happen again.”
While it ultimately had no bearing on the game, Stanton provided a memorable sequence in the second inning that certainly invoked a mixture of hope, disappointment, confusion and laughter.
Leading off the frame in a scoreless game, Stanton roped a 114.5-mph missile toward the left-center gap that looked like it just might be gone.
Stanton, believing he had hit a “Stantonian blast,” to quote old Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling, reacted accordingly.
The 35-year-old slowly walked, looked toward his teammates and began hopping, thinking he had given the Yankees an 1-0 lead.
But there was one problem: The ball hit off the wall.
Stanton flashed a “Oh no” expression after realizing he would not be free to trot around the bases, and had to kick it into second gear to just avoid being tagged out at second base.
His teammates laughed in the dugout after Stanton avoiding being tagged out.
“No harm, no foul, but still, it could’ve changed a lot, and we could have not been doing this,” Stanton said while pointing to the background celebrations. “So, it was very important.”
The Yankees ultimately stranded Stanton and didn’t even advance him to third, with Ben Rice striking out, Amed Rosario flying out and Jazz Chisholm Jr. also whiffing.
Stanton later played a critical role in the Yankees finally breaking the game open against Boston rookie Connnelly Early in the fourth inning when he worked a walk to put two men on with no outs.
Rosario lined a one-out single to tally the game’s first run, Anthony Volpe grounded an RBI single to right field and Boston first baseman Nathaniel Lowe misplayed an Austin Wells grounder into a two-run play.
Stanton finished 1-for-3 with one run scored.
“Just having great at-bats, and not try to do too much,” Stanton said of the four-run fourth inning. “I was very impressed with everyone’s at-bats in big moments, not trying to over-swing, just putting the ball in play, being on time, and that was important.”
The Yankees now head to Toronto for Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday against their division rivals whom they tied with a 94-68 record, but lost the tiebreaker to via a 5-8 head-to-head record.
The Red Sox too won the season series from the Yankees, winning nine of 13 games, but it went for naught in the wild-card series.
The Yankees will now try to exact similar revenge against Toronto.
“Nothing matters now,” Stanton said. “Season series, no series, it’s all a matter of the least amount of mistakes, who’s going to play the crispest baseball and we got to go get them.”