Giancarlo Stanton back in Yankees' lineup at DH vs. Blue Jays

The Yankees were expecting to get Gio Urshela back on Tuesday. But it was the identity of the batter who was in the lineup ahead of Urshela that raised some eyebrows.

Giancarlo Stanton returned from the injured list and was the cleanup hitter and designated hitter as the Yankees regrouped following their last day off of the regular season to host the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.

Stanton, who has been out since Aug. 8 with a hamstring injury, will be eased back into duty, manager Aaron Boone said. For example, the oft-injured slugger will not be in the lineup on Wednesday . . . but another fragile slugger could be.

Aaron Judge’s return from his calf injury is "imminent," Boone said. Judge has played in just one game since Aug. 12; he reinjured the calf in his first game back from the IL on Aug. 26.

So are the Yankees going to be able to keep Stanton and Judge on the field as they head into the postseason, which begins on Sept. 29?

"That’s absolutely the hope," Boone said.

Boone said he’s going to be cautious in his decision-making. The Yankees began a 13-games-in-13-days stretch to end the regular season on Tuesday.

An immediate example of that was Boone’s call to not start Gleyber Torres, even though the shortstop didn’t start on Sunday.

"Gleyber’s just dealing with a little bit of a quad," Boone said. "[He] wanted to be in there today and I just felt like, especially coming out of the off-day and [Torres] having off Sunday, just feel like this is something that I don’t want to become a bigger issue. We’ll kind of go day-by-day with him and make sure that it’s out of there completely before we get him out."

Torres was available off the bench, Boone said, as he was Sunday when he had a two-run, pinch hit double in the eighth inning against the Orioles to lead the Yankees to their fifth win in a row.

Eventually, the Yankees hope to present a lineup with Stanton, Judge, Torres and Urshela in at the same time. Just seeing Stanton added to the lineup card on Tuesday gave the team a jolt of hope.

"I was pumped," Gerrit Cole said. "I feel like everybody else is feeling the same way. It just makes us a lot deeper, makes us more versatile, adds some star power to the lineup. Anytime you’re an opposing pitcher and you read those names, you know your mistakes need to be limited."

Stanton had a 1.038 OPS before he was injured. Boone said Stanton had about 10-12 at-bats over the previous two days at the Yankees’ alternate site in Moosic, Pennsylvania, and that the medical and baseball staffs agreed he could continue his work in games that count in the Bronx.

"I think everyone signed off that now is the time," Boone said. "Excited to have him back. Excited to have him in there. We’ll go slow in the buildup here these first several days, but obviously excited to get him back.

"Obviously, he was in such a good place before he got injured. His at-bat quality was just really, really good. Even when he went through a few games when he wasn’t getting hits, it was just good at-bat after good at-bat, and, obviously, the threat that he brings . . . so hopefully in these last whatever we’re down to now – 13 games – he’ll be able to build up properly and rack up a lot of at-bats and, most importantly, go out and help us win ballgames."

The Yankees also activated pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga, who had been on the IL with an undisclosed illness. To make room on the roster, Miguel Andujar, Mike Ford and Clarke Schmidt were sent to the alternate site.

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.