HOUSTON — For three months, the Yankees have talked about Giancarlo Stanton getting again within the outfield. Wednesday evening, in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series towards the Astros at Minute Maid Park, Aaron Boone lastly determined to go forward with it.
The Yankees supervisor mentioned it’s not fairly as large a leap of religion because it appears.
“No, I started to prepare him for it a few days ago. I loosely considered it for Game 4 in Cleveland, but wasn’t quite ready to do it,” Boone mentioned. “But I had it on his board and I said ‘Let’s go Game 1 in Houston.’ So he started to get his mind prepared for that.”
It was the primary time Stanton had performed in left discipline — or within the discipline in any respect — since July 21. That allowed the Yankees to get Matt Carpenter’s lefty energy bat within the lineup. Still, it’s a danger. The motive Stanton hasn’t performed within the outfield is as a result of he has had a myriad of leg accidents and placing him again on the market dangers dropping one among their finest playoff energy hitters. Same with Carpenter, who hasn’t performed within the discipline since Aug. 3. He’s missed greater than two months as a result of he fractured his foot on Aug. 8. He was on the ALDS roster as a pinch hitter.
“I just feel like he’s good to go,” Boone mentioned. “And I’ll take the hitter he is. So he’s had a couple of tough draws…but he looks like a hitter to me it looks healthy, dominant and then we know what he is. So take our crack with him.”
Boone mentioned that he is not going to have Stanton within the outfield for Game 2 on Thursday.
“Probably not tomorrow, not against the lefty [Framber Valdez],” Boone mentioned. So, I’ll have him DH towards the lefty so most likely have [Oswaldo] Cabrera again on the market tomorrow.
IKF BACK
Isiah Kiner-Falefa was again within the lineup at shortstop Wednesday, his first recreation since making two essential defensive errors within the Yankees loss to the Guardians within the ALDS Saturday evening.
“Well obviously having Giancarlo in the outfield and [Houston starter Justin] Verlander being a reverse split guy. I mean he’s great against both, but he’s really tough against lefties. So, it’s a tough switch hit matchup [for Cabrera],” Boone mentioned. “We gotta get Izzy going and feel like Izzy’s the guy that can, especially the bottom of the order, move runners on base, get a hit. And we’ll get him playing well, and his defense impacts us too. So today was an easy decision for me.”
But it’s not a return to his common position.
“It will be an everyday decision,” Boone mentioned. “We got Peraza. We got, obviously, Cabrera, who can play short. So it will be just kind of a matchup and game to game. But I feel like Izzy’s going to play a big role for us.”
Peraza performed 18 video games with the Yankees on the finish of the season. He slashed .306/.404/.429 with an .832 OPS in restricted taking part in time. Not solely may he be a lift offensively at shortstop, he’s being introduced in to solidify their protection. Kiner-Falefa’s inconsistent play there was a problem all through the ALDS. Oswaldo Cabrera was an OK fill-in there, till he blindsided Aaron Hicks taking him out with a knee damage within the final recreation. He just isn’t as skilled nor as clean as Peraza.
“I mean a smaller bench this round with only four. So his athleticism comes into play,” Boone mentioned. “He can pinch run as you get later in the series, you can pinch hit for a shortstop. He goes in and maybe gets a start at some point. Just feel like you know adding a good player to the mix.”
UNCOMMON INJURY
Hicks suffered an “uncommon,” sprained knee in his collision with Cabrera on Tuesday evening.
“It was an uncommon kind of sprain and how it happened. I’ve just been told it’s six weeks down,” Boone mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com