Dodgers go all in, Yankees come up short as MLB trade deadline passes
Bob Nightengale breaks down why the Dodgers won the MLB trade deadline after landing Tarik Skubal, plus other winners and losers.
Sports Pulse
The New York Yankees called George Lombard Jr. up as an elite defensive shortstop. Tuesday night, in his major league debut, he showed he also has some pop.
Lombard homered for his first major league hit in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Aug. 4 is going to be a date that Lombard and his family will remember forever. Not only did Lombard become the youngest Yankee shortstop to hit a home run since Bobby Murcer in 1965, but his younger brother Jacob, the Marlins’ first-round pick last month, homered in his professional debut 1,200 miles south of the Stadium.
“You don’t ever get these days back,” the boys’ proud father told MLB.com from his seat at Yankee Stadium.
Lombard’s father, who played parts of six big league seasons, flew across the country Tuesday and was in the Bronx to see his son’s MLB debut. The bench coach for the Detroit Tigers, the elder Lombard told MLB.com they were headed to Jupiter, Florida, to see Jacob’s pro debut when his eldest son called to say he was heading to the Bronx.
The Yankees called Lombard up Monday night, after the trade deadline failed to dramatically change their lineup. The 21-year-old was swapped in for Anthony Volpe, the Yankees’ former top prospect who was the team’s everyday shortstop. Volpe was sent to Triple-A to learn to play second base, and Lombard was given a chance to show off his glove. He is considered the best defender in the organization.
And Lombard showed off the glove with a nice double play the first time he touched the ball and had another to end the top of the fifth.
But he also showed how his bat is coming along. Lombard hit .268 at Triple-A with a .405 on-base percentage, six homers and 10 steals.
Tuesday night, Lombard took an 0-2 pitch and drove it deep into the left-field stands. The ball flew off his bat at 100.2 miles per hour and traveled 392 feet. He gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I don’t know, to be honest, if I can explain it,” the Yankees shortstop said of what he remembered of his home run. “Still kind of processing it. I am just glad I could help the guys out. It was a tight ball game, so just getting that extra run was big.”