TO ELL AND BACK
Deep roster affords plenty of options as stretch run nears
EFORE there was Aaron Judge, there was Gary Sanchez. And before there was Sanchez, there was Greg Bird, the original post-Core Four phenom in pinstripes.
On Saturday, for the first time since April 7 and for only the fifth time this season, the three flag-bearing Baby Bombers were in the starting lineup.
It barely mattered that Bird, playing in his first game since May 1 after undergoing surgery on his right ankle, was the only one of the triumvirate to reach base in the Yankees’ 6-3 victory over the Mariners at the Stadium, in which Sonny Gray was in command through seven innings of one-run, three-hit, nine-K ball.
Bird was back with a single in two trips along with two walks to elevate his average to .113 after his indescribable 6for-60 start through which there obviously was something very wrong that perhaps belatedly was discovered to be an extra bone growth in his right ankle.
“It was a good day. It was just fun to be a part of it again,” the 24year-old said a half-dozen times. “It was just fun to be at the Stadium, with the guys and part of a good win by us.”
The Yankees are getting healthy as the stretch drive and suspensions to Sanchez and Austin Romine loom. And as such, manager Joe Girardi will have plenty of options through this demanding portion of the schedule in which his team faces 29 games in 30 days.
With Bird, whom Girardi re- cently designated as his “everyday first baseman,” Chase Headley shifted back to third. That left Todd Frazier on the bench until he got in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement. And with Aaron Hicks getting the day off, Jacoby Ellsbury went 2-for-4 in his stead as the center fielder, knocking in four runs with a second-inning single and a fourthinning, three-run homer.
“He’s definitely playing better,” Girardi said of Ellsbury, who has started only 12 games since Aug. 22 and essentially has been a spare part since returning from the concussion that sidelined him for a month into late June. “I have to give [Brett Gardner] a spell here, and get Judgie a spell here, so I can pick my spots.”
The long list of bats includes a healthy Starlin Castro, who came through with a two-run single in the seventh in his second game off the DL. Soon enough it will include Clint Frazier, who may be on his way to rehab this coming week after having been sidelined since Aug. 8 with an oblique strain.
So, for the most part, Girardi will not have to strike a balance between keeping guys fresh and constructing a formidable bat- ting order, even when the Yankees select the time for Sanchez to serve his suspension. The Yankees’ 2-3-4 hitters in this one (Judge, Sanchez, Didi Gregorius) went 0-for-12. It barely mattered.
Judge batted in the two-hole for the first time since the AllStar break. If it pleases the court, it did not matter. The right fielder looked feeble at the plate in going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. He is 5-for-34 (.147) with no home runs and two RBIs over his last nine games and 25-for-142 (.176) with seven homers and 16 RBIs since the All-Star break.
If there does not seem as if there is an end in sight to Judge’s slump, a day or two of rest might be the best cure for the gentle — and now muted — giant, who has played in 124 of his team’s 128 games. And it probably can’t come too soon for him.
“With 29 out of 30, he’s going to need a day off beside just the one scheduled,” said Girardi, who will thus be able to avoid the b-word — as in “benching” — when it comes to No. 99. But it is due. It is such a long season that sometimes roles change. On Saturday, for instance, former Yankee Robinson Cano, impaired by a hamstring issue, came off the bench for Seattle as the tying run with two on and two out in the eighth inning of a 6-3 game.
A couple of weeks ago, Girardi likely would have summoned Aroldis Chapman for the big moment. But in this moment, Chapman — who has yielded two homers to lefties in his previous six appearances after going 385 straight appearances without allowing one — remained seated in the bullpen as an afterthought.
Tommy Kahnle remained in the game and got Cano to ground out to end the threat before Dellin Betances closed it out.
The Yankees, whole again, were home-free.