The red-hot Yankees had a pair of lineup scratches Sunday morning, but manager Aaron Boone did not seem too concerned about either one.
Catcher Jose Trevino and second baseman Gleyber Torres were both in the original lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Cubs before both were eventually replaced ahead of first pitch. Boone expected to have both available off the bench, but didn’t need either as the Yankees ran away with an 18-4 win.
Trevino is dealing with “a little back thing,” according to Boone, though he played through it Saturday night and went 3-for-4 with a home run. He was initially set to play the day game after the night game, keeping his hot bat in the lineup, but Boone opted to scratch him for Kyle Higashioka.
“Came in with it still lingering today,” Boone said. “So with the off day [Monday] ahead of 20 in a row isn’t something I wanted to mess with. He’s available, too. Treat it like a normal day where he’s on the bench, so pinch-hitting situations and things like that, he’s good to go. Just something we didn’t want to mess with.”
Trevino, who has taken on more playing time of late, was set to get treatment on the back but was not scheduled for any tests.
Torres, meanwhile, was “just a little under the weather,” but Boone said he was not worried about it being a COVID-19 situation.
“A little stomach [issue], nauseous, but all right,” Boone said.
Trevino and Torres’ replacements, Higashioka and Matt Carpenter, combined to go 6-for-9 with four home runs, nine RBIs and six runs scored.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa went 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. He has four RBIs over his last two games after recording just four over his previous 25 games. … Manny Banuelos recorded his first career save, throwing the final three innings of the game and giving up one run while striking out four.
Taking advantage of Monday’s off day, the Yankees shuffled their rotation slightly for their midweek series against the Rays. Gerrit Cole will leapfrog Nestor Cortes and pitch on Tuesday, with Cortes going Wednesday.
The Yankees are trying to give Cortes and Luis Severino extra days of rest where they can, keeping an eye on their workloads with both pitchers lacking a track record of heavy innings in recent seasons.