Gleyber Torres on the bench again for Yankees

DETROIT — It is starting to become clear who the odd man out is going to be as long as the Yankees have more infielders than available starting spots.

For the second time in three games against the Tigers, struggling second baseman Gleyber Torres was on the bench, replaced by DJ LeMahieu. That was the case Tuesday night for the first game of the series and again Thursday afternoon for the series finale.

Aaron Boone said “obviously, DJ’s on a pretty good stretch right now” at the plate, a factor in the decision, but the fifth-year manager added, as is his wont when it comes to such things, “I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

Still, the Yankees signaled their intentions with the 25-year-old Torres on Opening Day when he wasn’t in the starting lineup against the Red Sox at the Stadium (Torres contributed a big pinch-hit sacrifice fly later in the day).

The signal? That the organization wasn’t going to deal with Torres by using kid gloves. Torres came into Thursday in a 0-for-17 slide and hitting .143 with a .491 OPS. Pinch-hitting for Jose Trevino in the eighth inning, Torres reached on an infield single to shortstop to snap the 0-for-17.

“A little off the last few games,” Boone said of Torres Thursday morning. “I actually felt like the first week [of games], I thought he was swinging the bat pretty good and not getting a ton of results. I don’t feel that he’s far off. Feel his BPs [pre-game batting practice sessions] have been really strong. Confident he’ll get it going.”

LeMahieu, who came into Thursday in a 10-for-26 stretch, went 1-for-4 and is hitting .300 with an .816 OPS.  

Managing for the long haul

A day after playing Josh Donaldson at DH, Boone had the 36-year-old third baseman on the bench to start Thursday’s game (Donaldson contributed a pinch-hit double in the eighth).

Boone said Donaldson, who has had his share of injury issues in recent years, is not dealing with anything at the moment and that the veteran is “good physically.”

“Picking those spots to where we’re smart with him, especially in this first month,” Boone said. “We talk about the pitchers, obviously, but it’s also important to make sure we’re smart with our position players too and getting them built up. So there will still be some DH spots for JD as we move forward.”

A different take

Boone, asked before Thursday’s game if he was curious how Joey Gallo would respond to getting a day off Wednesday to essentially clear his head from a horrible slump to start the season, said, “I don’t necessarily look at it like that.”

“We want to get him rolling, get him comfortable and get him impacting the game like we know he’s capable of,” Boone said. “The sooner we can get him settled in, the better for all of us.”

Gallo, after going 1-for-4 Thursday, is hitting .135 with a .391 OPS.  

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.