Castro root canal allows Torreyes to cut teeth

Starlin Castro sat out Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Red Sox, but this time, it wasn’t because of a hamstring injury.

Instead, the second baseman lost a front tooth sometime after Friday night’s loss in The Bronx, and manager Joe Girardi said Castro spent Saturday morning at the dentist getting a root canal replaced. Castro has spent two stints on the disabled list because of right hamstring strains.

“The plan was for him to play,” Girardi said of Castro, who is 0-for-9 lifetime against Drew Pomeranz, who started for Boston on Saturday. “He did not sleep much [Friday] night, so we had to go a different route.”

Girardi added he believed Castro would be available, but he stayed with Ronald Torreyes at second and didn’t need Castro’s bat off the bench.

In five games since getting four hits on Aug. 27, Castro is 2-for-17 with five strikeouts.

Torreyes went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

While the Yankees await word on their appeals of the suspensions of Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine stemming from their involvement in the bench-clearing brawls in Detroit on Aug. 24, their opponents settled their cases and began serving their sentences Saturday.

Miguel Cabrera had his suspension reduced from seven games to six and Alex Wilson from four to three, and manager Brad Ausmus got one game.

The lack of resolution has allowed the Yankees to use both of their catchers against the Red Sox.

Asked if he felt the Yankees caught a break with the delay, Girardi admitted “it would have been somewhat difficult” to lose either catcher before the rosters expanded Sept. 1.

Despite his prolonged struggles, Aaron Judge was back in the cleanup spot against the lefty Pomeranz on Saturday.

But the move back to the heart of the order after games hitting second and sixth didn’t make a difference, as the right fielder went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts in the victory.

Perhaps most disturbing was that when Judge seemingly did hit the ball hard, in a fifth-inning at-bat, he still couldn’t reach the warning track.

He hasn’t homered in his past 15 games and has just seven since participating in the Home Run Derby.