Giancarlo Stanton playing left field for crucial Game 3 highlights Aaron Boone’s lineup moves
In a week, the Yankees went from giving Giancarlo Stanton his first start in the outfield since July to putting him in the large left field at Yankee Stadium for a critical Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. It has been 1,106 days since the slugger stepped out to the left field in the Bronx, dating back to Game 1 of the 2019 ALCS on Oct. 12, 2019.
“Just thought he moved around well out there in Houston, obviously made a really good play out there,” Boone said of playing Stanton in the much smaller left field at Minute Maid Park. “So seeing how he was after that game, which [he] came out of that feeling good, the next day felt good as well. As I deliberated on it yesterday, I checked in with him just to make sure that he felt good about it. I told him I was considering it. He was all in on it, ‘Let’s go,’ and decided to go that way.
Boone admitted it’s not the perfect situation, but it’s where the Yankees are right now. They went into Saturday night’s game down 0-2 to the Astros in the best-of-seven games series, their offense stalling against Houston’s excellent pitching and a roster that was given to him with limited options.
After Joey Gallo turned out to be a bust in New York, Andrew Benintendi was acquired before the trade deadline specifically for these situations. He plays a Gold Glove-worthy lefty field and hits the type of pitches the Astros pitchers throw well. But he fractured the hook of the hamate bone in his right hand in early September.
In the past, Boone would move Aaron Judge to center and use Aaron Hicks or another center fielder in left to let Stanton play the much smaller right field. Hicks is out six weeks with a sprained knee. Harrison Bader is an exceptionally good defensive center fielder, but because he came to the Yankees injured, Boone did not have a chance to let him do that in the regular season.
So he was reluctant to throw him in there in such a crucial game.
“I just haven’t done that with Bader at all, him coming back from [missing three months with plantar fasciitis] and to just all of a sudden throw him in left field,” Boone explained. “It’s not the ideal alignment, but the reality is, we’re still really good defensively in the field right now.”
Bader, who has four home runs in the last seven games, was leading off in Game 2 on Thursday night, but was dropped to sixth Saturday. Boone had Anthony Rizzo leading off for the seventh time this season.
“I just really wanted to get the third lefty at-bat in there today against [Christian] Javier, who’s got pretty extreme reverse splits,” Boone said. “I mean, he’s had a great year against both, but he’s especially tough on righties. So I just wanted to have the three lefties in there today.”
Rizzo was one at the top of the lineup and Boone had Matt Carpenter in there at the No. 5 spot as a designated hitter. Carpenter, who missed the last two months of the season after fracturing his foot, is 0-for-7 with seven strikeouts in seven at-bats in the postseason.
But Boone has limited left-handed bats available with Benintendi on the injured list and Carpenter was a huge part of the offense earlier in the season.
“He’s healthy, he’s had a ton of at-bats,” Boone said of Carpenter, “albeit not a lot of in-game at-bats. He’s been getting a lot of live at-bats.
“It’s Matt Carpenter. Just because you have a couple of bad at-bats against some really difficult matchups, left-handed matchups. He’s a really good hitter. And then especially against Javier. Javier is their one guy that’s pretty extreme [with] righty splits. I want to have the three lefties in there and I feel like he gives us that chance.”
And finally, Boone played Oswaldo Cabrera, a switch hitter, at shortstop, hitting eighth to give the Yankees a third left-handed hitting threat. It was not an easy decision, Boone said.
“I do like [Isiah Kiner-Falefa] in there today, but again, I just went with the side of one of the three lefties in there. So yes, that was a hard one again,” Boone said.
