Brian Cashman has been Gary Sanchez’s biggest backer whether it was in 2018 when the catcher struggled with passed balls and wild pitches, or this year when Sanchez hasn’t come close to being the hitter the Yankees expect him to be.
The Yankees general manager believes, however, that staff ace Gerrit Cole and backup catcher Kyle Higashioka should be paired in the postseason.
“I do and I think it played out that way and is something that can easily be taken care of,’’ Cashman said in an interview with YES Network that aired prior to Wednesday night’s 14-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. “If it gives us our best chance of winning, that is something we should do. Hopefully it pays dividends for us.’’
Higashioka has caught Cole’s last four starts and the numbers are impossible to ignore. Paired with Higashioka in those starts, Cole is 3-1 with a 1.00 ERA and has limited hitters to a .432 OPS and two homers. With Sanchez catching in eight games, Cole has a 3.91 ERA and has given up 12 homers.
“It seems Higgy has a great rapport with Gerrit Cole, doesn’t mean Gary didn’t, but the proof is in the pudding about how things have transpired while Higgy has been catching him,’’ Cashman said.
Masahiro Tanaka has rarely spoken about this being the final season of his seven-year contract with the Yankees and of what the future holds for him as a free agent after the World Series.
Following Wednesday night’s debacle in which he absorbed the loss, however, Tanaka admitted thoughts of his potential last regular-season start as a Yankee were dancing inside his head.
“You are not thinking about it all the time,’’ said Tanaka, who will start the Yankees’ second postseason game next week, with the opponent and site still unknown. “Just going into today’s game, you realize this is the last start of the regular season for me, which means the last start of my seven-year contract with the Yankees. I did have that thought going into the game, but it wasn’t like I was thinking about it all the time.’’
For the second time in four games, manager Aaron Boone used third-string catcher Erik Kratz to pitch in a lopsided loss. Kratz gave up Danny Jansen’s homer in the home eighth. It was the second homer in a 4-for-4 game for the Blue Jays’ No. 9 hitter.
If the Yankees face the Twins in the first round of the playoffs, they know who will be on the mound for Minnesota since manager Rocco Baldelli announced his starters for the best-of-three series on Wednesday. Baldelli said he will go with Kenta Maeda, Jose Berrios and former Yankee Michael Pineda.
Zack Britton opted not to bring his pregnant wife and three children, ages 5, 3 and 1, to New York when the season started in late July and that has led to the lefty reliever experiencing his toughest big league season.
“I haven’t seen my kids in a long time and my wife. It’s been harder than any 162-game season I have ever played from that aspect, not seeing my kids and not seeing my wife. I understand a lot of people are going through that but it doesn’t make it any easier,’’ Britton said. “It has been multiple months and that has been the hardest thing for me to navigate.’’
Britton and the rest of the Yankees will check into a Manhattan hotel when they return from Buffalo on Thursday night as part of the pre-postseason quarantine bubble.
Gio Urshela extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a second-inning single. In that stretch, the slick-fielding third baseman is hitting .447 (21-for-47).
