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Competitive Boxberger chooses to face Sanchez
- Updated: September 21, 2016
ST. PETERSBURG — Brad Boxberger would point to the competitor in him. It was his choice. Face the prodigious Gary Sanchez — a player his own teammate compared to Babe Ruth — or walk him with first base open and two outs to face Billy Butler, a player the Yankees picked up less than a week ago.
The righty reliever was given the choice during a mound visit from pitching coach Jim Hickey in a tied game in the seventh inning Tuesday. Boxberger’s first pitch to Sanchez was a curveball right down the middle. It landed a Statcast-projected 437 feet away from home plate in the left-center field seats. It was the difference in New York’s 5-3 win over Tampa Bay.
“He said, ‘You have an opportunity to face either Sanchez or Butler,'” Boxberger said of his discussion with Hickey. “The matchup was better against Butler, but it was up to me. And I wanted Sanchez. It didn’t work out …
