DIDI’S BACK
Yankees plan to activate shortstop for Baltimore series
BOSTON — Didi Gregorius will make his season debut for the Yankees on Friday against the Orioles. The 27-year-old shortstop has been out due to a strained right shoulder he suffered during the World Baseball Classic.
“It’s great to get Didi back,” Joe Girardi said Thursday. “Obviously last season he played extremely well for us. We’ve been kind of fortunate because (Ronald) Torreyes has played so well, but it’s good to have him back.”
Girardi is unsure yet where exactly Gregorius will hit in the lineup, but it’s reasonable to believe it’ll be somewhere in the middle.
In 153 games last season, Gregorius hit .276/.304/.447 with a career-high 20 homers.
Torreyes has hit .308/.308/.431 with one homer and 13 RBIs in 19 games – including a 2-for-3 performance on Thursday night. Girardi said he will continue to see time in a utility role at second, short, third and even the outfield, if necessary.
In other injury news, Gary Sanchez (Grade I right brachialis strain) will likely begin his minor-league rehab stint on Tuesday at Triple-A Scranton, Brian Cashman said.
Sanchez has been expected to miss a month after initially suffering the injury on April 8 in Baltimore. Austin Romine has been terrific in place of Sanchez, hitting .273/.327/.386 with one homer and five RBIs in 13 games while doing an equally tremendous job calling games behind the plate.
The Yankees are 13-7 entering Friday night’s game.
“Listen, especially Romine and Torreyes have done everything and then some, everything you could have hoped any reserve would provide,” Cashman said. “They’ve got great relationships with their teammates and they’re performing well. It just creates a great environment for our clubhouse.”
ON HOLLIDAY
Matt Holliday entered Thursday night’s game in a 2-for-27 slump.
But the 37-year-old DH busted out against Chris Sale, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Holliday capped a 10-pitch at-bat with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning while adding an RBI single in the ninth.
“It’s tough because you’ve got to honor his 96-97 mph fastball, and he’s still got that really good breaking ball and a change that he’ll throw,” Holliday said of facing Sale. “You can’t come off the fastball and hope that you see the breaking ball in time to hit it or foul it off. I think he threw me three, four fastballs 3-2 (in the fourth), and then he threw me a breaking ball and I was able to get the barrel on it. At that point, you’re just trying to battle and put it in play.”
Added Holliday: “It’s always good when you can help the team win.”