BALTIMORE — Josh Donaldson has a team-high 13 strikeouts and an unsightly OPS of .454, not precisely what the Yankees anticipated once they made him the centerpiece of the commerce that despatched Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to Minnesota final month.
“I feel he’s on the verge,’’ Aaron Boone mentioned of Donaldson earlier than the Yankees opened a sequence in opposition to the Orioles on Friday at Camden Yards with a 2-1 loss in 11 innings.
“I’m not frightened about him,’’ the supervisor mentioned. “If we preserve him wholesome, he’ll have a giant yr for us.”
Donaldson went 1-for-5 with a single and two extra strikeouts.
In an effort to attempt to preserve Donaldson on the sector, he has been used because the DH — one thing he did once more on Friday, with DJ LeMahieu at third base and Giancarlo Stanton in proper subject for a second straight sport.
“He’ll be rotating by there [at DH],’’ Boone mentioned. “We worth and need him within the subject, however I feel if we are able to presumably get him days at DH day, it hopefully serves him nicely.”
Final season in Minnesota, Donaldson began 34 video games at DH — the best variety of his profession — with 91 begins at third base. And Donaldson hit higher when taking part in third, with an OPS of .871 there and a .708 OPS as a DH.
Boone mentioned Stanton seemingly would DH on Saturday.
Jordan Montgomery seemed simply high quality after struggling a bruise on his left knee when he was struck by a 102-mph comebacker off the bat of Boston’s Xander Bogaerts in his first begin of the season.
The left-hander pitched 5 shutout innings on Friday, limiting the Orioles to a few hits in his 71-pitch efficiency that was wasted due to the offense’s struggles.
“I believed he was actually good,’’ Boone mentioned. “He received into a great rhythm and completed actually sturdy. He received into hassle within the fifth inning, however made pitches when he needed to. We have been lucky he didn’t miss any time.”
Aaron Choose wasn’t within the lineup for the primary time of the younger season on Friday.
Boone mentioned it was a deliberate time without work, one thing he had focused since Opening Day and the actual fact the Yankees have been caught in a rain delay on Thursday, which induced them to not get to their lodge in Baltimore till after 3 a.m., solely strengthened that.
Choose pinch-hit for Isiah Kiner-Falefa within the high of the tenth and grounded out. He entered Friday with extra-base hits in his earlier three video games and had reached base in all seven video games.
Gleyber Torres had a one phrase reply when requested concerning the new left subject wall at Camden Yards: “Big.”
It would as nicely be named after the Yankees second baseman, who has eight profession homers in Baltimore — essentially the most of any highway stadium.
And his 1.132 OPS at Camden Yards is his highest at any ballpark wherein he has performed greater than 5 video games. Torres went 0-for-3 with a stroll in Friday’s loss.
Friday night time was the Yankees’ first go to to the Orioles since they pushed the left subject wall again 26 ½ toes and raised it practically six toes to a top of 13 toes in an effort to scale back the variety of house runs hit by opposing hitters.
After all, it’s additionally robbing Baltimore hitters of homers, however it was simpler to fiddle with the scale of the long-lasting ballpark than to get higher pitchers.
Boone mentioned he was “nonetheless getting used to” the wall in left, which features a extreme angle in left-center that figures to be tough for left fielder to navigate.
“It appears a bit of bizarre,’’ Boone mentioned of the brand new dimension. “It’s a bit of bit odd.”
Boone likened it to the hill that was within the outfield at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Torres’ dominance at Camden Yards is due in no small half to Baltimore’s hapless pitching and his most profitable season there got here in his breakout 2019 season, when he hit seven homers in 36 plate appearances.
Boone mentioned Luis Severino had “good soreness” popping out of Thursday’s begin, one other little bit of encouraging information after the right-hander tossed 5 scoreless innings on Thursday. Severino hasn’t had any bodily points since his total arm was sore following his second Grapefruit League begin of the spring.
He has pitched eight innings this season after being restricted to 7 ¹/₃ innings final yr following Tommy John surgical procedure and a slew of setbacks.
Aaron Hicks was amongst gamers across the majors to donate some or all of their wage for Friday’s sport to The Gamers Alliance in recognition of Jackie Robinson Day. The Gamers Alliance is a partnership between MLB and the Gamers Affiliation to extend the variety of black gamers.
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