ST. PETERSBURG, Fla, (AP) — Tampa Bay’s Wander Franco homered in his first at-bat Saturday and added an RBI single one inning later after the Rays benched him for two games in response to his handling of frustrating situations this season.
Franco was second in the batting order for Saturday’s game against the Kanas City Royals and homered on a 2-1 cutter from Jordan Lyles, a 417-foot drive to centre. He put the Rays ahead 3-0 on his 103.8 m.p.h. single to centre during the second inning.
After being sent home Thursday, the first of the two games he didn’t play, Franco was in uniform and in the dugout for Friday night’s game.
“It’s been hard, really hard, not being with the team,” the 22-year-old said through a translator. “I’m happy to be back. It’s been difficult.”
Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash has declined to discuss specific incidents. Franco has at times not run out grounders. After an at-bat on Wednesday, he shattered his bat on the dugout bench.
“I think they’re doing a good job in the way they’ve controlled the situation,” Franco said. “I’ve been with this organization a long time, and I think they’ve controlled the situation well with the errors that I’ve made.”
“Be better to control my emotions, and just find a way to help the team,” France added. “I’ve just got to be able to control the situations because I know they’re my problem. I’m just here to play baseball and I’ve got to control my emotions.”
Franco entered Saturday hitting .287, with eight homers, 34 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. He is in the second season of a $182 million, 11-year contract.
“It’s not a flip of a switch,” Cash said. “We’re going to support him. Wander’s going to put good work in, confident in that. And this will take shape over the course probably of our season.”
Franco has reached out to a number of people, including Rays pitcher Zach Eflin.
“Kind of explained that everybody’s on his side,” Eflin said. “Everybody cares about him, everybody loves him. I’m not going to give up on him, nobody’s going to give up on him.”
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