Sanchez takes step on road back to bigs

BALTIMORE — Gary Sanchez started what the Yankees hope is a road back to the big leagues Saturday.

Sanchez was the DH for the Yankees’ East team in the Gulf Coast League and went 0-for-3 with a walk and scored a run against the Phillies East in Clearwater, Fla.

“I am excited for him to start his trek back,” manager Aaron Boone said.

It was Sanchez’s first game action since going on the DL on July 24 with a strained right groin. The plan is for Sanchez to work out Sunday in Tampa and join Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre on Monday. The hope is Sanchez can be activated for the Yankees’ critical nine-game road trip that starts Sept. 3 with three games in Oakland.

Though Austin Romine has filled in well for Sanchez and went 3-for-4 with a homer in the second game of the Yankees’ doubleheader sweep of the Orioles on Saturday night, the Yan- kees hope Sanchez can be better than the .188 average he posted in 66 games before landing on the DL for the second time this season with the same injury. He has 14 homers, 42 RBIs and a .699 OPS.

Coming off a two-homer night in Friday’s 7-5 win over the Orioles, right-handedhitting first baseman Luke Voit started against O’s righty Jimmy Yacabonis in the first game.

It was the second straight game Greg Bird — in a 0for-13 slide — didn’t start against a right-hander.

“I feel his at-bats are starting to trend in a better way in the few chances he has got of late,’’ Boone said before Voit went 1-for-3 with an RBI in the 10-3 beating of the Orioles.

“We saw that manifest itself [Friday] night. We feel that’s worthy of him getting back in [the lineup],” Boone said.

Bird was at first for the nightcap and it was likely his numbers (3-for-7 with a homer) against Orioles right-hander Andrew Cashner played a part in it. However, that didn’t translate into because Bird went 0-for-4, grounded into a double play and was booed by the substantial amount of Yankee fans on hand. Bird is 0-for-17 and the average is at .199.

Justus Sheffield’s march to the majors via the bullpen continued Saturday when the lefty worked two innings for SWB against Lehigh Valley. He gave up a run in his second bullpen outing. Sheffield could make two more appearances out of the bullpen and be added to the Yankees’ pen when the rosters expand Sept. 1.