George Lombard Jr. got a taste of October on Monday night, and it came with both the good and the messy parts.
Inside a drenched visiting clubhouse at Target Field, the 21-year-old rookie joined the Yankees’ champagne celebration after New York punched its ticket to the postseason with an 8-3 win over the Twins. Toronto’s earlier loss to Detroit had already locked up the berth mathematically, but the Yankees made sure the night ended with a victory of their own.
Lombard played a major role in turning a tight game into a runaway. New York trailed 2-1 heading into the eighth and had spent seven innings looking quiet against Minnesota’s pitching. Then Lombard opened the frame with a double, immediately putting the tying run in scoring position and jump-starting the rally.
Jose Caballero followed with a single that scored Lombard and tied the game. Anthony Volpe and Caballero then executed a double steal, Ben Rice chipped in a broken-bat single for two runs, and Cody Bellinger added another single.
Aaron Judge finished the burst with a 415-foot, three-run homer, capping a six-run inning that flipped the game to 7-2. Austin Wells later homered in the ninth, and the Yankees moved to 87-63.
“It was really cool,” Lombard told after the win. “Obviously, a big part of the game and doing whatever I can to get on base there.”
The offensive burst was the kind of moment the Yankees had in mind when they promoted their top prospect in August. Lombard has been in the majors barely a month, but his bat keeps finding ways to matter.
Days before Monday’s clincher, he hit the first grand slam of his major league career against Colorado. At 21 years and 99 days, he became the third-youngest Yankee to hit a grand slam, behind only two younger Mickey Mantle blasts.
But the night also came with a reminder of the one part of Lombard’s game that has not matched the rest.
Later in the game, he made another error, adding to a defensive line that has become hard to ignore. The Yankees believed his glove would be the safest part of his profile when he reached the majors.
Instead, the errors have piled up. In August, Lombard committed an error in six straight games, becoming the first Yankees shortstop to do that since Roger Peckinpaugh in 1915.
He had seven errors through his first 20 major league games.
Lombard has owned the issue rather than ducking it. After that August stretch, he was direct when asked about the mistakes.
“It’s something I’m trying to figure out,” Lombard said.
Aaron Boone has continued to back him, pointing to Lombard’s range, arm strength and athleticism as reasons to expect the defense to settle in. The rookie has also shown flashes that support that view, including diving stops that hint at why the Yankees were comfortable putting him at shortstop right away.
Still, October changes the stakes. A mistake in August disappears into the noise of a long season.
A mistake in the postseason can tilt everything. That is why Lombard’s development is now one of the Yankees’ more interesting storylines as they head into the playoffs.
Lombard said the atmosphere won’t require a different approach.
“Obviously, it’s intense and every single pitch counts and everything matters, but we’re prepared for it,” Lombard added. “It’s going to be the same preparation, same routine. We just got to go out there and do our thing.”
On Monday, he gave the Yankees both sides of the equation: the bat that helped fuel the clinching rally and the glove that served up one more reminder of the work ahead.
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