The Yankees infielder is dominating Baltimore’s terrible pitching staff in a way that has rarely been seen, but that has some precedent.
They say a bloop hit looks like a line drive in the box score. By that reasoning, hitting a home run against the 2019 Orioles counts the same as hitting one against any other team, no matter how easy Gleyber Torres has made it look against Baltimore.
Torres, who homered twice in the Yankees’ 7-5 victory over the Orioles on Wednesday, is hardly alone in his mastery of the team’s underwhelming pitching staff. The Orioles, who are 15-34 now after going 47-115 last year, recently set a record by allowing 100 home runs in the first 48 games of the season — nine games faster than the previous record-holder, the 2000 Kansas City Royals.
But if the rest of the league appears to be taking batting practice when it faces Baltimore, Torres makes it look like something even easier. Maybe T-ball.
By going 2 for 5 on Wednesday, the Yankees’ second-year infielder actually lowered his average against Baltimore this season to .465. He has 10 home runs against the Orioles, with 13 runs batted in and an outrageous slugging percentage of 1.233. His 11 games against Baltimore account for 57 percent of his extra-base hits and 50 percent of his R. B. I.
Among the many gems dug up by the numbers wizards of STATS: Torres is already tied for the most multi-homer games against a single opponent in a season (four), he has the most homers against a single opponent before June, and he is the first player to have 10 of his first 12 home runs come against one team.
