Gary Sanchez explosion makes Yankees all the more dangerous
TORONTO — Gary Sanchez told The Post before Thursday night’s game that he was inching closer to regaining his rocket swing of 2016. He could feel the progress.
Sanchez then went out and delivered 874 feet of Last Year, blistering two home runs into the second level in left field of Rogers Centre.
Joe Girardi decided to put his two young sluggers back-to-back, with Sanchez batting second and Aaron Judge hitting third, and that helped propel the Yankees to a 12-2 thumping of the Blue Jays.
If you live for bat speed, Sanchez’s first blast off Marco Estrada, a solo shot in the second, left at 113.2 mph and traveled a projected 440 feet. The second, a two-run blast in the fourth, was jettisoned at 112 mph and journeyed 434 feet.
This was the night the Yankees have been waiting for with Sanchez flashing that compact, explosive swing that made him such a force last season.
Sanchez, 24, is All Rocket. Judge, 25, is All Rise.
“Those are two big home runs,’’ Girardi said of Sanchez’s fifth and sixth homers of the season. “They’re just line drives, they go a long ways. I don’t think he is over-swinging. To be able to stay on a couple of changeups like that, after he had been in front in the first at-bat. The young man has the ability to make adjustments. He made it and put two good swings on it.’’
It has been a difficult year for Sanchez, with his right biceps injury causing him to miss 21 games. Sanchez essentially has had to have a second spring training to get his timing back.
Until Thursday night, Sanchez had yet to find his swing, the swing that was unstoppable when he came up to the majors last season.
“I feel good,’’ Sanchez told The Post through a translator before the game, “but honestly I am not at the point where I want to be. I’m trying to get back to where I was last year. But the good thing is that I am noticing improvement every day, it’s a work in progress. Things are getting better and better.’’
Three hours later, there was lightning back in his bat.
Afterward, Sanchez said, “I’ve been working hard with the hitting coaches. The way you time a pitch with your leg, that’s improving.’’
It sure is.
Noted winning pitcher CC Sabathia of Sanchez: “He’s a great hitter. If we get him hot, this lineup is going to be tough to deal with.’’
Judge has 17 homers and drove in the first run of the night with a single in the first inning. Sanchez knows what a special player the Yankees have in this giant of a man. Remember, Sanchez spent all that time in the minors with Judge.
“He hits a ball and everybody is excited in the dugout, and I want him to keep doing that, keep it going, hit a hundred home runs,’’ Sanchez said with a smile.
Through it all, Sanchez has quietly kept plugging away.
“I think the key is to just keep working hard,’’ Sanchez said. “You never want to use an injury as an excuse because if you keep working hard you get to where you want to be.’’
The Yankees got a huge night, too, from Aaron Hicks, who drove in a career-high six runs.
The AL East is a hitting division. The Yankees need Sanchez to come around. Because of Judge’s success, though, he doesn’t have to be the monster he was last season.
Sanchez is batting .270, but has only 100 at-bats. He has an .830 OPS. Last season, he was off the charts at 1.032.
“I knew he was going to have a good day from the first at-bat when he hit a line drive to center,’’ leadoff hitter Brett Gardner said of Sanchez, who has hit 12 of his past 13 home runs on the road. “I’ve seen his cage work and the BP and how his swing looks. He was about to take off.”
Thursday night was liftoff for Rocket Man Gary Sanchez.