The Yankees got some good news on Friday — a day they suffered a tough 9-6 loss to the rival Red Sox.
Greg Bird, Matt Holliday (back) and Starlin Castro (right hamstring) all played in rehab games and Bird especially served notice that he could be rounding into form.
The young Yankees first baseman, who is returning from a right ankle injury, went 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBIs Friday night in his third game for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Castro began his minor league rehab assignment by going 0-for-4 for SWB and Holliday also went 0-for-4 for Single-A Tampa.
Before the game, manager Joe Girardi said he hasn’t started to formulate an idea of when Bird, Holliday and Castro might return from the DL but acknowledged what their return would mean to the lineup.
“I think you want to see how they are doing, but they were all middle-of-the-lineup hitters when the season started,” Girardi said.
“If you get them back, our lineup is so much deeper with experience, which I think is important. You get Starlin Castro and Matt Holliday back with experience, and I think it will be important to this club.”
As for who from that trio will arrive first, Girardi said he wasn’t ready to guess.
“It’s really hard to say,” he said. “For Greg Bird, just because he hasn’t played a lot in the last two years, it is hard to say how long it might take him to get going. Sometimes I feel young guys in those situations can get going quicker than an older player.”
Friday’s big night was a good start.