Coming up through the Yankees’ system, George Lombard Jr. wowed as much with his athleticism and winning plays as he did with his bat and glove.
One of those athletic, winning plays showed up in the majors on Thursday in a fun highlight in a game that did not matter much.
A slide both inventive and impressive helped the Yankees score a run in the seventh inning against the Rays in The Bronx, where the rookie shortstop awakened a crowd that was watching essentially an exhibition after the Rays already had clinched the division.
Lombard was on third base when Tampa Bay’s Brody Hopkins unleashed a wild pitch that bounced off the backstop but right back to catcher Liam Hicks.
Hicks took a few steps toward the ball, spun around and dove to the plate, beating Lombard easily.
But Lombard had begun a feet-first slide that he then abandoned once he saw Hicks, too, was on the ground.
In one motion, Lombard scrambled to his feet, took a step and tumbled over the plate and Hicks, dragging his right hand on the plate to cut the deficit to 4-3.
He then jogged into a Yankees dugout that was filled with smiling faces who had just witnessed a slide and tumble that few had seen before.
Lombard continued his heroics in the eighth inning after belting his seventh home run of the season to left field, giving the Yankees a 6-4 lead.
