LOS ANGELES — Luke Voit played six innings at first base and was the leadoff hitter for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday night, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in his first game of a minor league rehab assignment. The plan calls for Voit to be the DH on Saturday.
Aaron Boone said Voit, who is out with a sports hernia, could come off the IL next Friday.
“The way we have it mapped out, there is a chance he could join us that Friday when we start the homestand,” Boone said of Voit, who is on the IL with a sports hernia.
Boone enjoyed seeing his players walking around the clubhouse with cleats they designed for Players’ Weekend, in which the Yankees wore all-black uniforms and the Dodgers were wrapped in white.
“I think it is great, they are all excited about their shoes,’’ Boone said before the Yankees’ 10-2 win over the Dodgers.
Boone, however, also has an aversion to the iconic Dodgers and Yankees uniforms being on hangers for three games.
“One thing I would say is Dodgers-Yankees, this isn’t necessarily the best weekend for us. Having this matchup, to have them in their uniform and ours in ours, I think that would be cool but that said, it is another one of those things in the course of a long season is neat that MLB does.’’
Gleyber Torres’ 4-for-4, two-homer effort Thursday night at Oakland wasn’t the only bright spot for the Yankees’ lineup, which hit .200 (4-for-20) with runners in scoring position in a three-game sweep by the Athletics.
Aaron Judge, who went 3-for-5 in Friday night’s win, hit his second homer to left field this season.
On Tuesday night, Judge hit his first shot to left, a blast that was measured at 467 feet. He also smoked two balls for hits in the finale Thursday evening. They were Judge’s only three hits in 12 at-bats, but gave him seven hits in his past 20 at-bats (.350) and a 1.059 OPS in the previous five games.
“I have felt good [at the plate] for a couple of months now,’’ Judge said after the homer. “Hits will start falling.’’
Seven hits in 20 at-bats is a very small sample size, but considering what Judge went through from Aug. 2-15, it is a sign a player the Yankees desperately need to perform might be coming around.
During that 15-game stretch (14 starts), Judge batted .182 (10-for-55) with a .619 OPS.
Gleyber Torres has 32 games remaining to pass some big names in Yankees history regarding multi-homer games in a season.
Torres, who hit a solo homer in Friday’s victory, homered twice in Thursday’s 5-3 loss to the A’s. It was his MLB-leading eighth multi-homer game this season. That tied the Yankees’ record for one season, also held by Alex Rodriguez, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth.
Torres’ eight are the second-most in the past nine seasons behind current teammate Giancarlo Stanton — who had 10 in 2017 with the Marlins.
Torres leads the Yankees with 32 homers. He is the second Yankee to hit at least 30 homers in his age 22-or-younger season. Joe DiMaggio hit 46 homers in 1937 as a 22-year-old. Torres could become just the second Yankees middle infielder in the past 100 years to lead the club in home runs. Robinson Cano led the Yankees with 27 in 2013.
