Sanchez strong in rehab as Romine hurt

It didn’t take long for Gary Sanchez to show off his power in his first rehab game since straining his right biceps just a week into the regular season. The catcher blasted the first pitch he saw for Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre for a home run.

“Felt good tonight,” Sanchez tweeted after the game.

That’s positive news on more than one front for the Yankees. If they weren’t already looking forward to Sanchez’s return, it might be even more urgent after Austin Romine left Tuesday’s 11-5 win over the Blue Jays before the top of the seventh inning with cramping in his right groin.

Romine limped into third base in the bottom of the sixth on Chase Headley’s RBI single to center. He was visited by the training staff and Joe Girardi, but remained in the game. Romine didn’t come out for the seventh and was replaced by Kyle Higashioka.

Girardi said the cramping may have been due to dehydration. No roster move is expected, since Sanchez — who went 2-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts and the homer in eight in- nings — is expected to be back with the Yankees by Friday’s series opener against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

That leaves them just one game to bridge if Romine isn’t able to play on Wednesday with CC Sabathia on the mound.

Romine’s fill-in work in Sanchez’s absence has helped keep the Yankees at or near the top of the AL East. He entered Tuesday with an .813 OPS and the Yankees have pitched well to the career backup.

Sanchez, who caught in Tuesday’s 11-7 loss at Lehigh Valley and was expected to be behind the plate again Wednesday before serving as the designated hitter Thursday, is already on Girardi’s mind.

The manager said he anticipated putting Sanchez back in the two-hole in the lineup, just as he had been before injuring himself on a swing in Baltimore in the fifth game of the year.

Sanchez had three hits in 20 at-bats when he was shelved and Girardi has used five players in the second spot while Sanchez has been missing. Aaron Hicks started nine games, Chase Headley seven (including Tuesday), Jacoby Ellsbury two, Didi Gregorius one and Starlin Castro one.