MEXICO CITY — Robinson Cano is no stranger to being on the field with the Yankees in big atmospheres.
On Sunday, the only difference was he was wearing a Diablos Rojos del México uniform and inflicting damage on his former team.
The 41-year-old Cano, who signed with Diablos Rojos earlier this month, crushed a home run off Yankees Triple-A left-hander Tanner Tully in the fourth inning of an exhibition at a lively Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú.
Cano spent much of pregame Sunday catching up with Yankees personnel, including team president Randy Levine, special assistant (and former Mets GM) Omar Minaya and members of the coaching staff.
“It’s always fun,” Cano said before the game of playing the Yankees. “We had some good memories when I was there, going back to my first day. Won a championship. Being around all those Hall of Famers and All-Stars, those good old days.”
Cano hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2022 — a year after he was suspended 162 games for a second violation of MLB’s performance-enhancing drug policy — when he split time between the Mets, Padres and Braves.
But the left-handed slugger had a simple reason for why he is still playing.
“Because I love baseball,” he said. “People don’t understand that sometimes. It’s easy to tell someone, ‘Just go retire.’ But I think as long as I can do it and I can play and I can be on the field, I can do it.”
Cano said he wasn’t necessarily trying to make it back to the big leagues by playing with Diablos Rojos.
“If it happens, thank God,” he said. “But that’s not something that I’m like, ‘Oh I need to do my job so I can get back to the big leagues.’ I always say, when something’s gonna be for you, it’s gonna be for you. At the end of the day, I gotta do my job here first before I think about anything else.”
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