Austin Romine at last sends one out of the park

Austin Romine wasn’t going to be denied this time.

On the same day manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees were hoping to “ramp up” Gary Sanchez’s rehabilitation from a groin injury, and the power-hitting catcher said although he wasn’t sure when he’d be back, he hoped to start hitting on the field this week, Romine didn’t seem ready to give up his playing time easily.

After being robbed of home runs on Aug. 12 and July 29, Romine sent a 92-mile per hour fastball 339 feet, wrapping it inside the rightfield foulpole for a two-run home run in the fifth inning. It gave the Yankees a three-run lead in their 4-1 home victory over the Rays Tuesday.

“I knew it was going out but sometimes when you get over there being a righty, sometimes they kind of fade,” Romine said. “And I was kind of willing it to stay fair so I got lucky today, I guess.”

Maybe it was just a matter of balancing the fortunes after just missing out on a few homers over the previous weeks. First, it was Brett Phillips in right-centerfield reaching over the wall to bring back his long ball against the Royals July 29, followed by Joey Gallo stretching over the leftfield fence to rob one for Texas on Aug. 12. Both occured at Yankee Stadium.

“It makes it a lot better when they don’t catch it, but that’s a part of the game,” Romine said. “I’ve been unfortunate. I don’t think I’ve had anybody rob a home run on me in my career and then two in a week or so, so it was tough, but it was nice to be able to get one all the way out today.”

Tuesday was Romine’s eighth home run of the season — surpassing his career total (seven) entering the season over his first six years. The 29-year-old has only played in at least 60 games three of those seasons. However, he played in 80 contests last season.

And the longball — along with throwing out Willy Adames attempting to steal second in the third inning — couldn’t have come at a better time with Boone’s pregame comments about increasing Sanchez’s workload.

Sanchez, who was throwing on the field before the game, has only taken swings in the cages, but Boone hopes to get him hitting on the field soon and work him up to rehab in the Gulf Coast League once he’s ready. And when Sanchez returns, Boone said he expects a heavy catching usage out of the 25-year-old. But that doesn’t mean Romine will be forgotten.

“Obviously [Romine] will spell him and catch an OK amount of games for sure,” Boone said before the game. “But assuming [Sanchez is] healthy, we’re going to be very conscious about how we build Gary up.”

Sanchez, who has been out since July 23 with a groin injury, said he’s enjoyed seeing Romine and Kyle Higashioka make the most of their extended opportunities behind the plate.

“They’ve done an amazing job,” said Sanchez through an interpreter. “To me, there’s no weakness back there, those guys have been great.”