The New York Yankees’ manager, Aaron Boone, may term it “a little bump in the road,” but when it ties a 37-year-old franchise record, especially one involving errors, it doesn’t appear so little anymore. George Lombard Jr. has now committed five errors in as many consecutive games, and that hasn’t gone over well with the fans.
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On Wednesday, the Yankees were leading 3-2 at the top of the seventh when Christian Walker came to bat, and what had been happening for the last four games happened again.
George Lombard Jr. faltered for the fifth time as the ball went off his glove, awarding the Astros a run. With the latest error, he has now matched Álvaro Espinoza’s 1989 streak of errors.
“UNWANTED HISTORY FOR GEORGE LOMBARD JR,” analyst Dan Clark wrote on X.
“The longest single-season streak of consecutive games with an error by a New York Yankees shortstop is 5 games, set by Álvaro Espinoza in 1989. George Lombard Jr. has equaled that tonight.”
At the top of the seventh, the Astros had runners in scoring position with zero outs when Walker came to bat. Before Walker’s at-bat, the Yankees had allowed a leadoff walk to Jose Altuve and a double to Daulton Varsho to load the bases. Walker then grounded Paul Blackburn’s 95 mph sinker to shortstop George Lombard Jr. to tie the score.
However, the Astros failed to gain any momentum after that, as Bennett Sousa imploded in the bottom of the same frame.
He allowed the Yankees’ first four batters to all score before striking out Lombard Jr., who drove in Luis Garcia Jr. in the first inning.
Sousa started the seventh by surrendering a leadoff single to Trent Grisham and followed it up with a walk to Ben Rice.
In the next at-bat, Garcia Jr. reached first on a single, loading the bases. Then came Cody Bellinger, who drove Grisham, Rice, and Garcia Jr. in with an RBI double. The Yankees took a solid 7-3 lead, and the Astros never recovered.
Though the Yankees won 9-3, Lombard Jr.’s continuous on-field miscues have been costly.
During the series opener against the Astros, which the Yankees lost 9-7, Lombard Jr. recorded a throwing error in the very first inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. slid and pushed Jose Altuve’s grounder to Lombard Jr.
He fielded the ball and threw it to Garcia Jr. at first. However, it was too fast, and he dropped it before Garcia could catch it, allowing Yordan Álvarez to reach third. The Yankees gained nothing on what could have been a double play or at least an out for Altuve.
Yet, Lombard Jr. has given the Yankees a much-needed offensive boost.
He is slashing .265/.320/.368 with 2 homers, 6 RBIs, and 12 runs in 75 plate appearances. The Yankees have got what they needed from the shortstop offensively, and manager Aaron Boone is not worried either.
“I feel like over time he’ll be really good at the routine [plays],” Boone said, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “So I think that’s just a little bump in the road.”
However, with the playoffs only 30 games away, the 21-year-old rookie must not let the miscues pile up. He might have tied Álvaro Espinoza’s longest single-season streak of errors in consecutive games, but Espinoza also had a 31-game errorless streak, and hopefully Lombard Jr. will find himself on the right side of franchise history next time.