ARLINGTON, Texas — A lot of Yankees have heard reliever Fernando Cruz’s stories. He tells them that he was drafted by the Royals as a shortstop and played third base in the minors before switching to pitching.
He’s told stories about his defensive skills at the hot corner.
“Oh, we’ve heard him, we’ve heard him!” Aaron Judge said with a laugh Tuesday night after the Yankees held off the Rangers 3-2. “I think I might believe him now.”
In a game filled with terrific fielding by the Yankees, Cruz pulled off the best play. When the game was on the line in the eighth inning, the right-hander fielded a bunt and threw while on his back to get a force out at third base.
“That was sick,” said third baseman Ryan McMahon, who also made a great play holding the bag with a long stretch. “I didn’t even see it, then I look, and Cruz is on the ground throwing the ball to me.”
With two Rangers on base and no outs, and the Yankees leading 2-0, Joc Pederson laid down a bunt between the pitcher’s mound and third base.
Cruz slid to field the ball and ended up on his back. Somehow, he made a 35-foot throw on the money to third that just beat Brandon Nimmo.
“I threw that ball on my back,” Cruz said. “It was kind of funny. At the same time, it was a big play of the game.”
After the web gem, Cruz did his best pitching. Throwing nothing but splitters, he struck out Jake Burger on three pitches and then fanned pinch-hitter Ezequiel Duran on four pitches to end the inning.
“I describe myself as an adrenaline guy, it’s just who I am,” Cruz said. “I locked it in after that (bunt).”
Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler received help from his outfield defense during his six shutout innings.
Nimmo led off the bottom of the first inning with an opposite-field drive to deep left that was brilliantly run down at the wall by Cody Bellinger. Batting second, Josh Jung then hit a liner to center field that Trent Grisham flagged down with a combination of a dive, tumble and roll forward.
“Wow,” said Judge, who had a good view watching both plays from right field. “Belly going up against the wall like that on a ball that I thought for sure was either home or gonna be extra bases, and then literally the next guy, Grisham has a great read, comes in, dives for a ball like that.
“I was pumped for both of them. I was like, ‘Is it my turn next? Am I getting the next one here? But just incredible defense all around out of those two.”
The Yankees ended the game with good defense, too, after the Rangers scored twice in the ninth inning.
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager hit a groundball to second baseman Jazz Chisholm that was turned into a game-ending, 4-6-3 double play.
After 30 games, the 20-10 Yankees have a .986 fielding percentage that ranks seventh-best among 15 AL clubs. That’s an improvement from last year when they ranked 11th at .984.
“It’s the defense that supports the pitching,” Boone said. “There’s been times where we haven’t scored a ton of runs. We didn’t score a ton of runs tonight. I’ve been really pleased (with the defense) overall.”
Even the pitchers are chipping in. Through Monday’s game, the Yankees had four starters in a row pick off a baserunner.
“This is for the guys to understand that,” Cruz said. “I can pick it, too!