Yankees will use Gregorius to split up righties in lineup

TORONTO — Aaron Boone hit Aaron Judge second, Giancarlo Stanton third and Gary Sanchez fourth against Blue Jays lefty J.A. Happ in Thursday’s Opening Day victory at Rogers Centre.

However, with the Blue Jays starting right-handers in each of the next three games, don’t look for all that right-handed muscle that went 6-for-14 with three doubles, two homers and five RBIs in a 6-1 win to remain bunched together.

Initially, the plan was for Greg Bird to hit third between Judge and Stanton. That blew up when Bird required surgery on the right ankle on Tuesday and could be out for two months. Now, Boone will turn to Didi Gregorius.

“There is a good chance you could see Didi in the four hole [Friday] and against righties,’’ Boone said before Thursday’s win. “I felt good today stacking those three guys.’’

Boone said he feels Gregorius can handle hitting third.

“I like a lefty in there and Didi is in a good place swinging the bat,’’ said Boone, who mentioned outside of hitting from the same side of the plate the shortstop isn’t the same type of hitter as Bird. “Didi is obviously different from Birdy in that he doesn’t see as many pitches and probably doesn’t get on [base] as much but you like him up there with traffic.’’

Masahiro Tanaka didn’t have much of a reaction to not starting on Opening Day. Asked if it was strange not to be on the mound for the game, Tanaka said through an interpreter, “Honestly, no.”

His focus is mostly on simply getting off to a better start than he did in 2017, when he had a disastrous first half following a spring in which he seemed to have pitched well.

Tanaka left spring training last year having given up just one earned run in 23 2/3 innings and followed that up by being knocked around for the first 2 ¹/2 months of the regular season, when he had a 6.34 ERA through June 17.

“You never know what the results are gonna be, but as far as the preparation going into the season, I think I was able to progress gradually versus last spring,” said Tanaka, who had a 7.24 ERA and gave up five homers in four spring outings this year after choosing not to opt out of his contract in the offseason. “I feel like I’m in a good place right now.”

The Yankees don’t have an exact date for Jacoby Ellsbury to participate in a minor league game.

Ellsbury is on the DL with an oblique strain and working out in Tampa.

The Blue Jays honored the late Roy Halladay before Thursday’s game with his family and former teammates on hand. Halladay, who died in a plane crash in Florida on Nov. 7, had his No. 32 retired.

Having played against the righthander in the minors and majors, Boone said the mound didn’t seem as far from the plate as it was.

“It wasn’t a lot of fun facing him. With Halladay it’s almost like a 54-foot mound [instead of 60 feet, 6 inches]. It was so effortless what he did,’’ Boone said. “He was so much better than anyone else it was almost like the mound was closer. It’s nice to see Toronto and all of baseball honor him.’’