Miguel Andujar returns to Yankees' lineup, commits two errors

Aaron Boone expressed his happiness to have Miguel Andujar back in business before the Yankees’ game against the Twins on Saturday at the Stadium. He had missed the previous 28 because of a small tear in the labrum in his right shoulder, but now Andujar was about to man third and bat fourth.

“Excited to have another guy with Miggy’s capability, just potentially adding a little more length to our lineup,” Boone said.

Gio Urshela had stood out in making 17 starts in place of Andujar, shining in the field and surprisingly excelling with a bat in his hands. Andujar hasn’t been known for shining in the field, just at the plate. And that’s the way his return in the Yankees’ 7-3 loss basically played out — one hit, one walk, two errors.

Andujar returned from Tampa, lined a single to right-center and flied out to the track in left-center along the way. But he also misplayed a grounder and made a horrendous throw that led to an unearned run during a mixed bag of an afternoon.

“I felt good out there,” Andujar said via his translator. “Errors are going to happen in a game.”

The second error came with a runner on first and one out in the seventh. Andujar fielded Nelson Cruz’s grounder and fired the ball way wide of second and toward right-center.

Boone said he thought “his footwork got away from him a little bit there, kind of off the wrong foot and the angle. But I didn’t feel like he was tentative [on his throws].”

Andujar has played only three games at third, plus one as the DH. He has a hit in all four games, extending his streak to eight dating to Sept. 27. But he also has three errors after making 15 last season, although he has worked at trying to improve.

More DH work appears to be coming. Boone went with Gary Sanchez as the DH instead of as the catcher in this game, and Sanchez hit his third homer in two days. He’s expected to catch Sunday.

Paging Mr. Urshela.

“With the day game after the night game and wanting to get Gary back in there, that’s the DH slot there,” Boone said. “Now these next couple of days, [it’s] probably a chance to get Gio back in there and Miggy can slot in as the DH. But that’ll be something that’s daily, that we’ll just kind of look at what lines up the best.”

Andujar suffered a small labrum tear diving back into third against Baltimore on March 31. But he strengthened the shoulder and escaped surgery, at least for now. He said he had no pain during this return.

“I felt better than expected,” he said.

It was Andujar’s booming bat that led to his second-place finish in the voting for AL Rookie of the Year last season from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, behind the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani. Andujar won the award from The Sporting News via a vote by his peers.

He had a .297/.328/.527 slash line with 27 homers and 92 RBIs in 149 games. His 47 doubles set a Yankees rookie record and tied the AL rookie record.

There should be more where all that came from. He felt comfortable at the plate in his return.

“I had many at-bats in the minor leagues, and they helped me to get back into hitting rhythm,” Andujar said. “It feels good. The rhythm is there. I’m glad. Thank God l’m back . . .

“That was definitely tough watching from far away, not being able to play the game. It’s the first time I go down with an injury like this and I’m out of the game for a while. So that was definitely something I needed to adjust [to], and it’s also one of the reasons why I keep saying that I’m happy to be here and being part of this team again.”