ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Aaron Decide stood at third base because the go-ahead run with two outs within the high of the ninth inning Saturday when the Rays deliberately walked Ben Rice to carry up Randal Grichuk.
Aaron Boone let Grichuk hit for himself within the right-on-right matchup in opposition to reliever Hunter Bigge and didn’t have a lot of a proof afterward for why he didn’t ship up Paul Goldschmidt as a pinch hitter as an alternative.
“Truthful. Undoubtedly might have, ought to have, no matter,” Boone mentioned after a crushing 5-4, 10-inning loss at Tropicana Subject. “However positively some consideration.”
Grichuk, who had entered the sport as a pinch runner for Giancarlo Stanton within the eighth inning, was off to an 0-for-9 begin to the season and made it 0-for-10 when Bigge wanted only one pitch to get him to fly out to finish the ninth inning.
“Simply felt prefer it was a great spot for [Grichuk] too,” mentioned Boone, who confirmed Goldschmidt was obtainable off the bench. “However truthful query.”
Bigge has reverse splits for his profession, which is probably going why the left-handed-hitting J.C. Escarra didn’t pinch hit for Grichuk.
However neither did Goldschmidt, and the missed alternative loomed giant as the sport went to additional innings and finally became a fourth straight Yankees loss.
Signed throughout spring coaching to be a lefty crusher, Grichuk has began the season 0-for-10 with 5 strikeouts. Eight of these at-bats got here in opposition to left-handers.
“He’s performed a pair video games, hasn’t gotten outcomes, [but] he’s hit a pair balls on the screws, hit one good to middle [Friday] night time,” Boone mentioned earlier than the sport. “Then clearly to begin the 12 months, with all of the righties we had initially, there weren’t a whole lot of alternatives. So bodily, I really feel like he’s in a great place. Not a whole lot of spring at-bats, however hopefully as we get settled into the season and he will get some alternatives in opposition to some lefties, he’ll produce.”
Decide might get his second DH day of the season Sunday, with Stanton heading to the bench for the sequence finale in opposition to the Rays. Boone had initially deliberate to do this Saturday, however after the Rays bumped lefty Shane McClanahan from Sunday’s begin, Stanton will doubtless sit Sunday in opposition to righty Drew Rasmussen.
As Ryan McMahon works to get his bat on monitor — he went 1-for-2 Saturday earlier than being pinch hit for by Amed Rosarioin the seventh inning in opposition to a lefty — the Yankees are nonetheless relying on him being a staple within the lineup at third base any time Max Fried is on the mound, given his propensity for producing floor balls to the recent nook.
“That’s sort of Ryan’s superpower, particularly as he tries to get it going right here offensively,” Boone mentioned. “The one factor we will rely on is how good he’s on that left facet. With Max going, often he’s fairly busy over there.”
