Another night, another poor showing at the plate for DJ LeMahieu.
LeMahieu went 0-for-5 in a 9-5, 12-inning loss to Cleveland on Tuesday in The Bronx.
He’s in another rut, this one 2-for-19, as the Yankees still await the return of Anthony Rizzo from the fractured right forearm that’s kept him out since mid-June.
“It was a tough night,’’ Aaron Boone said of the long-slumping LeMahieu. “He had some opportunities.”
Boone added that while LeMahieu has “shown some flashes, it’s been tough. It’s been rough.”
LeMahieu started against left-handed Matthew Boyd on Tuesday despite just a .406 OPS against southpaws on the season.
With Ben Rice also struggling at the plate, the Yankees will “keep grinding with” LeMahieu while they see if Rizzo can get back.
Rizzo took swings prior to Tuesday’s game against right-hander Ian Hamilton, who was pitching a simulated game in his comeback from a right lat strain.
“I thought he looked really good out there swinging the bat today,’’ Boone said of the first baseman. “He feels really good. … The biggest thing for him is he can do everything now at full-steam ahead, and feels great doing it. The strength is there, it’s just again, just getting that full healing to where if he falls, gets himself in trouble, or something like that.”
Boone said there is not another scan scheduled for Rizzo’s arm.
In the last scan, his arm showed signs of healing but wasn’t completely 100 percent.
“If that thing was totally healed, like where he’s at right now [at the plate], he’d be out there playing,” Boone said. “But we’ve got to make sure that thing heals to a certain level.”
And it’s easy to understand why the Yankees need Rizzo back — even if he wasn’t hitting all that well before he got hurt.
Since Rizzo went down, the Yankees have gotten the second-worst production of any team in the majors from their first basemen.
Using mostly the combination of LeMahieu and Rice, the Yankees entered Tuesday with a .593 OPS since June 17.
Only the Mariners are worse.
And with Anthony Volpe in a terrible slump for most of the past two months, Gleyber Torres not hitting well for much of the season and Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the IL with a left elbow sprain, the Yankees haven’t gotten much offense out of their infield for a hefty chunk of the year.
Juan Soto hit his 35th homer in the first, which matches the career-high he set last season with the Padres.
Aaron Judge has four homers in eight games and has 45 on the season, as he begins to close in on his AL record of 62 home runs he set in 2022.
The duo went back-to-back in the first inning Tuesday. It was the fifth time they’ve hit consecutive home runs this season, one shy of the franchise record set by Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira in 2009.
Hamilton said he felt good in his simulated game and plans to pitch in a minor league rehab game Saturday and then decide the next step.
Cody Poteet (triceps) and Lou Trivino (Tommy John) continued rehab assignments with scoreless outings at Double-A Somerset.
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