Gregorius glorious for Yanks

NEW YORK — A big bopper powered the New York Yankees to victory in their most anticipated home opener in years — Didi Gregorius, not Giancarlo Stanton or Aaron Judge.

When the Yankees agreed to acquire Stanton from Miami on Dec 9, Gregorius playfully tweeted: “Hey Skip am i still batting 4th ???” He sure is. Gregorius hit a pair of threerun homers and had a careerhigh eight RBIs, helping New York overcame five strikeouts by Stanton in his first game in pinstripes. In Aaron Boone’s chilly first home opener as manager, the Yankees broke a seventh-inning tie and romped over the Tampa Bay Rays 11-4 on Tuesday.

“That’s what a cleanup hitter does: You clean up the garbage in front of you,” Stanton said.

Starting his fourth season as Derek Jeter’s successor, Gregorius had four hits and walked. He set a major league record for RBIs by a player in a home opener and a Yankees record for RBIs by a shortstop.

Gregorius had career bests last year with .287 average, 25 homers and 87 RBIs.

“I think everyone around the game understands what a good player he is and what a big-time money player he’s become,” Boone said.

Stanton starred in last Thursday’s opening win at Toronto, homering twice. But he struck out three times against Chris Archer and once each when facing Austin Pruitt (1-1) and Sergio Romo. Stanton was booed in the eighth inning after the first five-strikeout game of his 11-season professional career.

“I was awful today,” he said. “You put up a performance like that, you should get some boos.”

Gregorius was asked to think back to April 2015, when he hit .206 in his first month with the Yankees and made several errors and baserunning blunders in his first month. Fans taunted him by chanting Jeter’s name.

“The reason why they boo you, because they want you to do good, not because they hate you,” Gregorius said. “It’s a bad day today, but tomorrow if he gets five home runs, everybody will forget it.”