Joey Gallo left Saturday night’s Yankees win in Kansas City with left groin tightness, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed that after that issue, he planned to give Gallo Sunday off no matter how he felt coming to Kauffman Stadium on Sunday morning.
“He felt pretty good when he left last night, but I kind of decided last night I wasn’t going to mess with it today and see where we’re at,” Boone said. “How he came in this morning didn’t factor in to being in the lineup.”
Gallo will receive treatment today, and is “day-to-day” pending how he feels after treatment and loosening up on Sunday.
With the slugger off, Miguel Andujar will get his first start in left field on Sunday, and in fact his first extended run since being recalled earlier this week when Aaron Hicks went on the paternity list.
“Obviously, me staying away from Gallo opened up that spot, and I decided I wanted to go with Miggy today,” Boone said.
Andujar was hitting .347 with three homers, six RBI, and eight runs scored in Triple-A, but his only MLB action prior to Sunday was pinch-hitting for DH Aaron Judge in the eighth inning of Friday’s 12-2 win in KC, where Miggy grounded out to third.
Tim Locastro and Aaron Hicks had started two games each in left on Gallo’s previous days off, and it was Locastro who started in left Friday and replaced Gallo on Saturday. However, Sunday could be a bit of an audition for Andujar, depending on how Gallo’s leg responds.
Rosters cut from 28 to 26 on Monday, so the Yankees will have to drop two players after Sunday’s game, and the Bombers did choose to keep Andujar and option RHP Ron Marinaccio to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after Thursday’s game (when Hicks was ready to return from paternity).
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