Return of Giancarlo Stanton has a big impact on Yankees' lineup
OAKLAND, Calif. — The impact of Giancarlo Stanton’s return to the Yankees’ lineup was felt, as one might expect, in the heart of the order.
But the bottom, too.
The Yankees crushed the A’s, 13-4, on Thursday night, with Stanton — who had been on the injured list since July 26 with left Achilles tendinitis — going 1-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs. Stanton’s two-out, two-run single on a 0-and-2 curveball from James Kaprielian in the second made it 4-0, and his bases-loaded walk in the third inning, also against Kaprielian, made it 8-0.
“I thought he looked great,” Aaron Boone said. “I thought he had a couple of really good swings, obviously a few RBI, a good walk to knock out Kaprielian [in the third], especially after he got behind in the count. I thought he did a good job just being really disciplined.”
Stanton, whose single to left came off his bat at just over 118 mph and whose seventh-inning groundout to short had an exit velocity of 117 mph, indicated he was most pleased with the adjustments he was able to make in terms of knocking off some rust.
“I felt pretty good,” he said. “I was pretty happy with my at-bats. I was in and out of my timing a little bit, pitch by pitch, [which was] a little expected. But I think I did a decent job of making adjustments mid-at-bat. So yeah, I’m happy with it.”
Though Stanton had a good day in his return to the plate, the bottom part of the order did the majority of the damage Thursday. Hitters 6-9 combined to go 10-for-20 with three walks, seven RBIs and 10 runs. Josh Donaldson, the No. 6 hitter, went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs and Oswaldo Cabrera went 3-for-6 with an RBI. No. 9 hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa went 2-for-4, with his two-run single in the second getting the Yankees on the board (catcher Jose Trevino went 2-for-5 with an RBI from the eight-hole).
“Ozzy three hits, Trevi had some good at-bat, Izzy might have had the most key at-bat of the game [in the second] to get that first big inning going,” Boone said. “And that’s another byproduct of getting Giancarlo back, you get a little bit deeper throughout [the lineup]. A lot of good at-bats [from the bottom of the order].”
Said Kiner-Falefa: “Getting Big G back helps out a lot. Everybody seems like they’re breathing again a little [easier], so it’s nice to have him back and our lineup full strength . . . He’s also one of the best players there in the last couple of years. Any time you can get a player of that caliber in the lineup, it helps everybody else out.”
Stanton, named the MVP of this year’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles, is hitting .229 but with 24 homers, 64 RBIs and an .805 OPS in 81 games. He is third on the Yankees in home runs. Aaron Judge hit his 49th (and the Yankees’ 200th) on Friday night, a 427-foot three-run shot to centerfield off former Yankee JP Sears in the fifth inning that gave Gerrit Cole a 3-0 lead.
Stanton is very much aware of what his regular presence can mean for the lineup — the Yankees went 10-17 in his absence and struggled offensively during much of that stretch — even though he is noticeably uncomfortable when that prospect is raised with him.
“I mean, any boost I can give is huge. And I’m glad that I can,” he said, almost shyly, after Thursday’s game. “And yeah, it just helps the dynamic of the lineup a bit. I’m just glad to be back.”
Boone put it another way. “It’s another really scary and tough presence that a pitcher knows he’s got to really execute against,” he said. “It’s just another hard grind-it-out guy. When we’re at our best, G is a big part of that. You kind of wear [pitchers] down and hopefully it makes guys make some mistakes throughout the game because you have another heavyweight to go through.”