The New York Yankees lost 7-6 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, and that can be widely attributed to the poor baserunning from catcher Gary Sanchez.
Trailing by a run in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs, Sanchez hit a ground ball to short. The Rays tried to get the force out at second, but Aaron Hicks hustled to beat the throw. However, as you can see below, Sanchez opted to jog slowly to first, and he was thrown out with relative ease.
With the Boston Red Sox defeating the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees fell six games out of first in the AL East. Sanchez can't be blamed entirely for the loss, but the Pinstripes should have at least tied the game heading into the bottom of the ninth. Sloppy and non-heads up baserunning cost the Yankees, however.
Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez and ESPN's Buster Olney were highly critical about Sanchez's lack of effort.
It's common for players to jog slowly to towards the bag if they hit the ball to first or second base, knowing they have a very unrealistic chance of reaching it. But in Sanchez's case, he should have known that Hicks was capable of beating it out, and there was no excuse to be thrown out with relative ease like that.
Though the Red Sox have built a comfortable lead for the AL East division, the Yankees aren't completely out of it. But with losses like this, they're only increasing their chances of hosting the AL Wild Card game. And obviously, winning the division is preferred than having to play a one game playoff.
Sanchez is one of the best catchers in all of baseball and is a key reason why the Yankees are among the best teams in the league right now. His season and career won't be defined by one baserunning mistake, but he has to learn from this and never do it again.