Yankees At-Bat(s) of the Week: Ali Sánchez, Paul Goldschmidt, and Heliot Ramos (8/30)

In arguably their most important game of the season, the Yankees bats showed up to play. On Sunday, the offense steamrolled the Red Sox, 16-1 , to take three out of four and win the season series. In a game full of quality at-bats, there was a sequence of three in the fifth inning that set them on course for the eventual blow out — a perfect sacrifice bunt by Ali Sánchez, a two-run single by Paul Goldschmidt to reap the reward of Sánchez's bunt, and the game-breaking three-run homer from Heliot Ramos.

We join Sánchez with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. Runs are hard to come by with Will Warren and Ranger Suarez both dealing. However, the Yankees have a golden opportunity with runners on first and second after José Caballero led off with a single and Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a shallow fly to right-center that was controversially ruled to be trapped instead of caught by Ceddanne Rafaela — a decision upheld after replay showed no decisive angle to overturn . Sensing that the Red Sox were still reeling from that perceived injustice, it became imperative for the Yankees to strike during this moment of weakness from the opponent.

Everyone in the stadium knows before Sánchez even dug in that there was one objective on his mind — a well-executed sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Suarez understands this and selects a pitch that should be difficult to bunt cleanly — a cutter up and in.

Suarez gets the pitch to his spot, burying this cutter in on Sánchez's hands. However, Sánchez does an even better job of positioning and angling the bat early to cushion the ball down the third base line rather than having to stab at the pitch. The result is a perfectly placed bunt that moves both runners up for a hitter who absolutely crushes lefties.

Next up is Goldschmidt. When facing lefties, he seems to have a defined plan — hunt fastballs inside that he can pull for power early in the count before going with an right-center field approach after falling behind.

After sticking with mostly soft stuff the first two times he faced Goldschmidt, Suarez goes right at him in this AB with fastballs, starting with this four-seamer up.

This heater is pretty much over the plate, but it's elevated just high enough and Goldschmidt is just late enough with his swing that he's only able to foul it back over the screen.

Suarez stays on the attack with another four-seamer.

This time, Goldschmidt is ready for the pitch and starts his swing earlier. Even though this is a much better located pitch in off the plate to partially handcuff Goldschmidt, he's strong enough to muscle this ground ball up the middle through the pulled-in infield to plate both base runners. He got the pitch he was looking for and just missed it and made sure not to miss it when the second one came.

After Cody Bellinger singled to put runners on first and second, Ramos steps to the plate in one of the biggest spots of his brief Yankees career looking for his first true signature Yankees moment.

When Suarez faced Ramos in the first inning, he busted him inside with all fastballs. It's the same story here, starting with this first-pitch four-seamer.

This pitch is perfectly located, painted on the inside edge low. Even if Ramos had used an ABS challenge, it would have confirmed this as a called strike.

Suarez looks to replicate that execution with his next pitch.

You can see the way the previous called strike tempts Ramos to chase this fastball in off the plate. However, he checks his swing in time as he recognizes that Suarez has pulled this four-seamer a littler further inside.

After establishing a pair of heaters inside, the obvious sequence would be to follow with a back-foot slider. If he can throw it down the same tunnel as the previous two fastballs, Ramos should have a very hard time not chasing.

Suarez executes the exact pitch he intends and it takes decent concentration from Ramos to track the movement and fight it off foul to stay alive.

With Ramos showing a willingness to swing at the breaking ball down and in, Suarez opts for the slower and greater breaking curveball hoping to get the hitter out in front for the swinging strikeout.

Ramos is sitting on the bender and matches his swing path and timing perfectly to rope a three-run shot into the bleachers in left. It's by no means a bad pitch given it's on the corner down and in. However, the previous slider got Ramos hunting breaking ball, so as a pitcher you have to bury the following breaker almost in the dirt. You can almost see the weeks of frustration melt away with each step Ramos takes around the bases.

As much as I am generally not a fan of bunting, I have to concede that Sánchez's sacrifice was the turning point of the game following the controversial call on Rafaela. Then came the crafty veteran experience of Goldschmidt hunting the fastball in against the lefty and not missing when he got his pitch. Finally, there was the emotional release of the home run which seemed to lift the weight of the world off Ramos' shoulders — a moment which can make any player feel truly a part of their new team after joining midseason and not immediately producing. Some unlikely heroes stepped up in one of the biggest moments of the Yankees season, and it was almost like Boston waved the white flag once Ramos' ball left the yard, culminating in the eventual blowout.