Could Boone make lineup changes for Game 3?
The Yankees defense has received, and appropriately so, much attention the last couple of days after melting down to the tune of four errors, three committed in the first inning, of Monday night’s 5-2 loss to the Rays in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
But Yankee bats, so potent in a two-game sweep of the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series, have been just as much a culprit.
With the exception of Ben Rice and Austin Wells.
Rice and Wells went a combined 4-for-12 with two homers, two doubles and two walks the two losses at Tropicana Field, with the former contributing two of the Yankees four hits in Game 2, both of those hits homers. Everyone else went 1-for-46 the first two games. Hitters No. 3 through 7 hitters in the Yankees' order went 0-for-33.
“I'm considering a couple things,” manager Aaron Boone said on Tuesday’s off day of pondering some lineup changes for Wednesday night’s Game 3 against Rays righty Nick Martinez. “But I haven't settled on anything. I'll kind of work through that through the day and talk to some of my coaches and make a decision…on which way I want to go.”
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Yankees Game 3 lineup had not yet been made public. Even with a righty on the mound, among the most likely changes would be the righty-hitting Anthony Volpe in at second for the lefty-swinging Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Caballero, another righty bat, in at third for the left-handed hitting Ryan McMahon. Chisholm and McMahon each committed errors in Monday’s loss.
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.
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