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HOUSTON — Alex Rodriguez didn’t start Monday night against Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel, so he isn’t a lock to be in the lineup Saturday or Sunday when the Rays start lefties Drew Smyly and Blake Snell at Tropicana Field.
However, manager Joe Girardi hinted Wednesday he likely will dust off the designated hitter, who turned 41 Wednesday and play Rodriguez for the first time since last Friday against Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner.
“I think you will probably see him,’’ Girardi said of Rodriguez, who is batting .193 (27-for-40) against righthanders with a .574 OPS and .232 (16- for-69) with a .710 OPS against lefties. Overall Rodriguez, who didn’t play in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to the Astros, is batting .206 with a .619 OPS.
Rodriguez is 0-for-2 against Snell and 2-for-8 versus Smyly.
Wanting to keep his best hitter, Carlos Beltran, productive, Girardi has used him as the DH in the past five games, which relegated Rodriguez to a possible pinch hitter, which he has done three times this year with one hit.
Girardi has been respectful of Rodriguez’s career accomplishments, but his paltry numbers compared to last year’s stellar season, when he hit 33 homers and drove in 86 runs after missing all of 2014 due to sus- pension, can’t be ignored.
“Part of the reason he is not DHing more is he hasn’t hit like he did last year,’’ Girardi said. “And I need to DH with Carlos. It’s important I DH him.’’
It’s likely that Beltran, who has started 20 straight games and is easily the Yankees’ best hitter (though he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Wednesday), will sit out at least one of the games against the Rays to ease the stress on his legs caused by the artificial turf.
Wednesday night’s defeat marked the return of Adam Warren to the Yankees and Luis Severino’s first big league relief appearance.
Warren came back from the Cubs on Monday in the Aroldis Chapman trade and worked a scoreless inning of relief.
Severino followed Warren and threw two innings in which he fanned three. Severino was 0-6 with a 7.46 ERA when sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in May. In 10 starts for the RailRiders, the righthander was 7-1 with a 3.25 ERA.
“I thought his slider was better tonight than before. I thought it had a lot more depth,’’ Girardi said. “There is still fastball command we can work on.’’
Gleyber Torres went 1-for-4 in his second game with Single-A Tampa on Wednesday night against Brevard County in a 2-0 win for the Yankees’ entry in the Florida State League. Torres, the headliner in the Chapman deal, is 1-for-9 in two games.
Mark Teixeira , who had one of the Yankees’ five hits Wednesday, is a candidate for a day against the Rays to give the torn cartilage in the right knee a break. Teixeira has started the past five games.
“The condition isn’t going to go away,’’ Girardi said of his first baseman. “The biggest thing is we have to manage it and think about the days in a row and how many he can handle. We are going to Tampa [Bay] and that is hard on a guy’s body so that is something I have to look at, too.’’