Rangers Manager Calls Yankee Stadium 'Little League Ballpark' After Walk-Off Loss
The short porch strikes again.
After Gleyber Torres' walk-off home run clinched a victory for the Yankees over the visiting Rangers in Game 1 of a Mother's Day doubleheader on Sunday afternoon, Texas' manager Chris Woodward complained to reporters about the dimensions at Yankee Stadium.
"Small ballpark," Woodward said in his postgame press conference. "That's an easy out in 99 percent of ballparks."
Sure, Torres' solo home run wasn't a tape measure shot. It wasn't a no-doubter either. But Woodward is mistaken.
The game-winning homer traveled 369 feet to right field and would have been a home run in 26 of the 30 Major League Ballparks.
In fact, Torres' solo shot traveled 14 feet further than Kole Calhoun's long ball in the sixth inning, Texas' only run scored in the 2-1 loss.
Both home runs had an expected batting average above .970, per Statcast. Calhoun's line drive was struck slightly harder than Torres' decisive drive at an exit velocity of 108.1 mph.
Woodward continued, calling New York's home in the Bronx a "Little League ballpark."
"The wind wasn't helping today obviously, but just a 3-1 count. [John] King is one guy that you can put him back out there and know he's not going to give up a homer. Just happened to hit it in a Little League ballpark to right field."
Yankee Stadium's short porch has been critiqued before and it will be again in the future. Torres' home run wouldn't have been an issue for Texas if the Rangers scored more than one run and didn't commit three errors in the contest, though.
The Yankees took notice to Woodward's comment as well.
On a booming home run off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader, New York's social media team posted a clip of the blast with the following caption: "We are going to guess this is a home run in 30/30 Major League ballparks."
After their loss in Game 1 on Sunday, Texas sits in fourth place in the American League West with a 10-15 record. New York, meanwhile, has the best record in Major League Baseball (19-7).
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