ANAHEIM, Calif. — Didi Gregorius and Aaron Judge are the two biggest reasons the Yankees entered Sunday’s action first in the majors in slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, runs scored and RBIs.
Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks have provided support from the middle of a lineup that also houses Giancarlo Stanton, who has shown signs he is about to take off at the plate.
However, don’t overlook what the Yankees have received from the bottom third of the lineup during the eight-game winning streak they took into Sunday night’s tilt against the Angels at Angel Stadium.
In those games, the seven, eight and nine hitters combined for a .315 (29-for-92) average with two homers and 16 RBIs. That rookies Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres are regulars in that part of Aaron Boone’s order is impressive.
“I feel good about all our guys. We got some bottom-of-the-order production,’’ Boone said following Friday night’s 4-3 win in 10 innings in which Andujar went 2-for-4. “We feel like our strength is we can get you in a lot of different spots.’’
Andujar has not played like your normal bottom-of-the-order hitter recently. In his past 11 games going into Sunday night’s action, Andujar was hitting .409 (18-44) with three homers, eight RBIs, an AL-leading twelve doubles and a 1.331 OPS.
Sonny Gray opens a four-game series against the Astros on Monday night in Houston looking to escape a 1-1 record that goes with a very bloated 7.71 ERA in five starts.
Gray went through a throwing session early Sunday afternoon in the outfield with pitching coach Larry Rothschild watching. In 21 innings Gray has allowed 29 hits and issued 16 walks against 19 strikeouts.
Boone has harped on getting the right-hander out of his funk because he is an important part of the rotation. Perhaps Gray can draw on the five-plus innings he worked in Game 4 of last year’s ALCS against the Astros at Yankee Stadium when he allowed one hit and one earned run and helped the Yankees even the best-of-seven series at 2-2 with a 6-3 victory.
Since he started on Sunday, when the Astros beat the A’s, the Yankees will miss Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole in the four games at Minute Maid Park. Cole was a trade target for the Yankees this offseason. It was the second time the Yankees pursued Cole. They picked him in the first round of the 2008 draft but he opted for UCLA instead.
The Yankees will face Charlie Morton, Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers in Houston.
