ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The opportunity for Giancarlo Stanton finally arrived.
His first at-bat in five-plus months just did not turn into a moment, but what Aaron Boone saw in it was one of the few things he liked in the Yankees’ 1-0 loss to the Rays in Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday night at Tropicana Field.
With the Yankees trailing by a run in the top of the ninth, and Rays righty closer Bryan Baker entering from the bullpen, Boone sent Stanton up to pinch hit for the left-handed-hitting Ryan McMahon to lead off the frame.
Stanton, who last took an at-bat April 24 because of three separate calf strains, ended up striking out on five pitches. The veteran slugger fouled off the first pitch, took two balls and a strike, then foul-tipped a 96 mph fastball on the inner third into the catcher’s mitt for Strike 3.
“Baker’s obviously had a great year,” Boone said. “Really tough, really reverse [splits] guy. So not that I was going to hit for a lot of my lefties there, but felt the threat of Giancarlo — I thought he had a really good at-bat. I thought he was on all [five] pitches. I thought he was seeing the changeup well. I thought he got a good swing off right out of the bat.
“I liked what I saw. He took the right at-bat. He just didn’t clip it. So yeah, I’m going to take my shot with a hitter there and got [José Caballero] to run for him and we’ll take our shot right there.”
Stanton had been 5-for-7 with one strikeout in his career against Baker, with the potential to tie the game on one swing, though it did not come to fruition.
Ryan Weathers also made his first appearance since Aug. 22, relieving Gerrit Cole in the sixth inning and getting three groundouts to first base against three left-handed hitters.
“I felt super healthy,” Weathers said. “Felt good. Stuff was coming out really good.”
The lefty, who spent the last month-plus rehabbing a left forearm flexor strain, indicated he should be available for Monday’s Game 2, especially because he only needed nine pitches to retire the side Saturday.
The Yankees left Weathers off their roster for the wild-card series to give him more time to build up, hoping it would allow him to be available more often in the ALDS.
The other lefties in the Yankees bullpen are heavily used setup man Brent Headrick and the soft-tossing Ryan Yarbrough. Headrick lost some velocity late in the season, looking like he might be running out of gas, while Yarbrough is mostly on the roster to offer some length if the Yankees get into a tough spot.
To add Weathers, the Yankees took veteran utility player Amed Rosario off their roster to go with 11 pitchers and 15 position players.
The righty-hitting Rosario was on the wild-card roster against the Red Sox, but the Rays have fewer left-handed pitchers and the Yankees already have Paul Goldschmidt, Heliot Ramos and Stanton as right-handed pinch hitting options. Because Anthony Volpe is more of a threat on the bases and offers better defense at second base (and potentially third), Rosario became what Boone described as the “odd man out.”
“Tough call, because of how important he’s been to our team,” Boone said. “But he understands, too, and he’ll be the same Rosie he always is as far as what he means to the team and in that room.”
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