When Ryan LaMarre got his chance to join the Yankees earlier this season, he was in the Majors for just four days before a right hamstring strain sent him to the IL and, eventually, back to Triple-A.
So, when he was called up again on Sunday to replace the injured Tim Locastro, he wasn’t about to let another potential injury stop him.
“I felt like my foot landed half on the concrete and half on the dirt, and buckled underneath me a bit – but as I lay there for a second, nothing was a sharp pain right away,” LaMarre said, referencing that attempted leaping catch in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game that left him in the splits against the right field wall:
LaMarre had just moved from left field to right field that inning, replacing Trey Amburgey, another recent call-up who left the game at the end of the fourth inning due to a hamstring cramp. It looked like the Yankees were about to lose their second outfielder in the span of 10 minutes, but LaMarre said there was no way he was letting Yankees manager Aaron Boone take him out.
“I thought I was going to be okay, and after last time coming up for four days and hurting my hamstring, I told Boonie I wasn’t coming out of the game,” LaMarre smiled. “You don’t get too many chances to wear pinstripes, and I want to take advantage of every inning I’m given out there.”
Take advantage he did, as LaMarre later hit a two-run homer that capped the Yankees’ scoring, the finishing touch on a game where the bottom third of Rougned Odor, LaMarre, and fellow emergency call-up Greg Allen went 5-for-8 with three walks, two home runs, a sac fly, five RBI, and seven runs scored.
“(The homer) felt amazing, especially in an 0-2 count where I’m just trying to put the ball in play and get the next guy up,” LaMarre said. “To see it go over the fence like that is satisfying. Any chance you get to contribute, that’s what all players want, especially in my role. We want to be in a winning environment and contribute any way we can. No matter what is asked, it’s about what we can contribute that night.”
Especially satisfying to do it in a Yankees-Red Sox game.
“I actually had some butterflies driving over here, like it was my first time getting called up, and I had to talk to a few people to kind of mellow out,” LaMarre smiled. “I was watching last night’s game a bit and saw Timmy (Locastro) make that catch, but didn’t know he came out of the game, until my manager (Doug Davis) called me around 11:30 p.m. and told me I was coming to the big leagues. I woke up this morning in Worcester and finished the night in New York City, can’t complain about that!”
No matter who the opponent is, though, LaMarre, and the rest of the newer Yankees, have one mission: keep the ship afloat any time they’re asked to steer it.
“We know this is a big stretch of games, and we’ve all been together in Scranton for a few months, so we’re pulling for each other and trying to contribute any way we can,” he said. “We’re going to try to be aggressive and make things happen any way we can.”
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