Aaron Boone had an ace up his sleeve.
After the Tampa Bay Rays compelled further innings Wednesday with a two-run rally within the backside of the ninth, the Yankees supervisor turned to red-hot Giancarlo Stanton to pinch-hit within the tenth.
And Stanton delivered, drilling a go-ahead two-run dwelling run that proved to be the game-winner within the Yankees’ 6-4 victory.
“What a weapon to have over there at that point of the game,” Boone remarked afterward.
Certainly, Stanton has excelled as a pinch-hitter this season, including a component to his recreation that wasn’t as mandatory when he began each day.
Going into Thursday’s collection opener towards the Boston Crimson Sox within the Bronx, Stanton was 4-for-7 (.571) with two dwelling runs, six RBI, two walks and a 2.238 OPS as a pinch-hitter this yr.
In his 15 seasons earlier than this one, Stanton was 5-for-46 (.109) with seven RBI, seven walks and with out a dwelling run as a pinch-hitter in his profession.
“I’m just getting ready to start the game, pretty much, so my mind doesn’t get turned off or let the game dictate my [mindset],” Stanton mentioned after Wednesday’s heroics. “‘OK, now we’re up. Now we’re down.’ I’m gonna hit until the 27th out.”
The circumstances surrounding the Yankees’ roster at present forestall Stanton from being an on a regular basis starter, as Aaron Decide stays restricted to DH obligation as he recovers from a flexor pressure in his proper elbow.
That’s taken the first DH position away from Stanton, who has returned to enjoying proper discipline since Decide’s damage. And whereas Stanton was again to beginning within the outfield on Thursday evening, the Yankees don’t need to use him there each day.
Stanton didn’t play the sphere throughout final weekend’s three-game collection in St. Louis, with Boone saying the 35-year-old slugger wanted a little bit extra time to bounce again bodily. Stanton began in proper discipline on Tuesday earlier than coming off the bench on Wednesday.
The silver lining is that Boone can deploy Stanton — MLB’s lively dwelling run chief — within the recreation’s most vital conditions on the times he doesn’t begin.
“He’s, mentally, an animal, and he knows that that’s part of his game now, to be available for big at-bats off the bench,” Boone mentioned.
“In the past, when you guys would talk about [Stanton’s pinch-hit struggles], he was an everyday player, and he probably never did it, and it was a day off. Now, he’s getting ready for that big at-bat in a spot.”
Stanton, who has a historical past of lower-body accidents, missed greater than two months to start this season on account of tennis elbow in each arms.
He’s been among the many Yankees’ most harmful hitters since returning, coming into Thursday with a .311 common, 15 dwelling runs, 40 RBI and a 1.031 OPS in 46 video games.
It stays unclear when Decide will return to proper discipline, with Boone saying there was no replace Thursday.
Boone doesn’t count on Stanton to start out within the outfield on Friday, which suggests one other pivotal pinch-hit alternative might be on the horizon.
“Every pinch-hit is its own scenario, [its] own little algorithm, so you figure out how it goes,” Stanton mentioned. “But as long as you’re prepared and on time, understand the situation in a short amount of time, you can do something good.”
Initially Revealed: August 21, 2025 at 6:59 PM EDT
