BOSTON — Already without Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge, Yankees manager Aaron Boone is hesitant to give Didi Gregorius a day off.
“Obviously it is difficult right now with the situation we are in,” Boone said before Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Red Sox. “At some point here, there is a good chance on this road trip he could get a day [off]. It’s something I think about a lot with all our guys but especially Didi because he is a guy we lean on pretty heavily.”
Lately, the leaning hasn’t affected the left-handed-hitting shortstop, who started his 15th straight game and the 42nd out of the past 43 Friday night, when he went 0-for-3.
On July 13, Gregorius was hitting .260. Beginning the next day, Gregorius batted .333 (19-for-57) with four homers, a .377 on-base percentage and a .991 OPS in the next 14 games.
In Thursday night’s loss, he hit two homers and drove in four runs. It was Gregorius’ fourth multi-homer game of the season. No other Yankees shortstop has had two such games in one season.
Because the Red Sox are starting lefty David Price against the Yankees on Sunday night, Boone could shift Gleyber Torres from second to short and play Neil Walker at second.
Nevertheless, Boone didn’t tip his hand. And it’s not like Gregorius struggles against lefties — he started Friday night’s action hitting .270 against right-handers and left-handers. Sixteen of his 20 homers have come off right-handers, and his OPS against righties was .842 compared to .755 versus lefties.


