Muscle on the right
TORONTO — Aaron Boone’s first lineup has three righty sluggers back-to-back-to-back. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez will hit second, third and cleanup on Thursday afternoon against Blue Jays lefty J.A. Happ.
Brett Gardner will lead off. Aaron Hicks, Didi Gregorius, Brandon Drury, Neil Walker and Tyler Austin round out the order.
“I’ve been kind of working on it the whole weekend,” Boone said.
Boone was asked why he didn’t hit Judge leadoff, which he did once in the spring. Gardner is a career .300 hitter vs. Happ.
“I think (Greg) Bird being out of the lineup maybe contributes to that a little bit,” Boone said. “I think we’ll have two true lefties (Gardner and Gregorius) against Happ, and I don’t hate the matchup for Gardy, with their bullpen being so much more right-handed.”
The switch-hitting Walker, who is 4-for-15 lifetime against Happ, will start at second over Tyler Wade.
“That’s hopefully a good matchup for us, and just looking at it, I’ll probably give Walk at least a day (off) this weekend, and Wader is going to play a lot, whether it’s two-three games I would imagine. Just kind of looking at the lay of the weekend, this felt like the best way to go matchup wise for the first day.”
The Yankees haven’t won on Opening Day since 2011.
DELLIN BOUNCE BACK?
For the first time in a long time, Dellin Betances won’t be the Yankees’ designated setup man going into the season.
With a deep bullpen full of power arms, Boone said the situation will be fluid in that role — at least for now.
“At the end of the day, if I’m pitching in the middle or late innings, I’ll embrace that role,” Betances said. “I did that my first year so I’m ready for whatever they need me to do.”
Betances struggled with his command in the second half of the season and lost his setup job in the playoffs, with Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson handling the late, high-leverage situations. Betances had a 5.59 ERA in September.