The youngest Yankee to start a postseason game since Mickey Mantle in 1952 had three hits, scored twice and played clean defense in a 9-0 Game 1 rout of the Red Sox. Five months ago he was in Double-A.
George Lombard Jr. is 21 years and 119 days old. He became old enough to drink champagne in June, and he was playing Double-A ball as recently as late April. On Tuesday night, in his first postseason game, he looked like a veteran.
The rookie infielder had three hits and scored twice in the Yankees’ 9-0 win over the Red Sox in Game 1 of the AL wild-card series in the Bronx. He is the youngest Yankee to start a playoff game since Mickey Mantle in 1952. Mantle was 19 years, 349 days old at the time.
"It’s definitely an honor," Lombard said of the comparison. "I have to pinch myself every now and then." He added that the team’s shared goal made it easy to stay focused.
Three hits, three different ways
His first playoff at-bat produced a looping single into shallow center that dropped just past Boston second baseman Nick Sogard. Next time up, he beat out a chopper to the left side that Caleb Durbin, a former Yankees prospect, could not convert. After a fielder’s choice in the seventh, he lined a single to center in the eighth and came around to score.
That made him only the fifth Yankee to record three or more hits in a playoff debut. The last to do it was Bernie Williams, in Game 1 of the 1995 ALDS against Seattle.
From error streak to spotless
The performance stood out partly because of how his big-league career began. Lombard opened with a six-game error streak that raised questions about his defense and whether he was ready. On Tuesday he was flawless in the field, including a double play he turned with Anthony Volpe to end the seventh.
The Yankees have long compared the first-round pick’s calm to Derek Jeter’s, even if his game is still catching up. Lombard credited the clubhouse. "Just be prepared, put in the work and just let things handle themselves on the field," he said.
Reporting in this story is based on coverage first published by the New York Post. The photograph is a stock file image, not a photograph of the game described.
