Yankees manager Aaron Boone's lineup changes for Game 1 of ALCS didn't go well

HOUSTON — The Yankees rolled the dice with their lineup in Game 1 of the ALCS on Wednesday night, but it didn’t help as they lost to the Astros, 4-2, at Minute Maid Park.

Manager Aaron Boone started Giancarlo Stanton in leftfield for the first time since July 21 and used Matt Carpenter as the designated hitter for his first start since he broke his foot on Aug. 8.

Carpenter had the biggest at-bat of the night. He was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against Justin Verlander and 0-for-5 with five strikeouts in the postseason when he came up to face Ryan Pressly with the Yankees trailing 4-2 and two on and two out in the eighth.

Carpenter struck out to end the inning. The Yankees struck out 17 times against four Houston pitchers. Stanton (2-for-4) was the only starter who didn’t strike out.

“I felt pretty good,” Carpenter said. “The results, obviously, weren’t there. Got to face some pitching. Couple of full counts. Chased a ball off the plate on one of them and they made a good pitch on the other. Last at-bat, same thing. Made some pitches. Just wasn’t able to get it done.”

Said Boone about Carpenter: “Tough matchup, right? You’ve got, obviously, Verlander, who is actually tougher on lefties, as great as he is, and even Pressly there. So it's a tough draw. Hopefully valuable for him to just get some regular at-bats within the course of a game that serves him and us well kind of moving forward. We know what he can provide for us off the bench or when there's those DH starts for us. So hopefully a tough night is something that can benefit us moving forward.”

One other lineup change: Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who was benched for Games 4 and 5 of the ALDS before playing the final three innings of the series finale, was back at shortstop.

Stanton hadn’t played the outfield since July 21, when he started in left in Houston. Boone likes playing Stanton there because of the short leftfield dimensions at Minute Maid Park. The manager said he’d be less likely to start Stanton in left when the series shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Saturday.

You know how they say that, in baseball, the ball will find you? That’s what happened to Stanton when the second batter of the bottom of the first, Jeremy Pena, hit a screaming liner over Stanton’s head. Stanton froze for a moment before making a leaping attempt to catch the ball, which went for a double.

Counting that one, five of the first 15 Astros batters hit the ball Stanton’s way. The next three were easy plays, but Yuli Gurriel led off the fourth with a line drive to the scoreboard wall.

Stanton ran this one down and punched out a scoreboard panel with his right hand after making the grab. The panel was replaced.

“Off the bat, I'm like, no way, and then he makes the play,” Boone said. “So that was really good to see him moving around.”

The lineup changes were accompanied by roster tweaks as the Yankees made changes from the personnel they used in their five-game Division Series win over Cleveland.

Greg Weissert, a rookie reliever from Bay Shore, made the cut, as did rookie infield prospect Oswald Peraza and veteran righthander Frankie Montas.

Montas entered the game in the seventh and gave up a leadoff homer on his third pitch to Pena. That was the only baserunner Montas allowed in his inning.

Lefthander Lucas Luetge and utilityman Marwin Gonzalez, both of whom were on the Division Series roster, were taken off the ALCS one, as was Aaron Hicks, who was lost for the rest of the postseason with a knee injury suffered in Game 5 against Cleveland on Tuesday.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.