CLEVELAND — The slumping Austin Wells could find himself out of the cleanup spot — and perhaps out of the lineup altogether, at least for one game — with Cleveland starting left-hander Matt Boyd in Game 3 of the ALCS on Thursday at Progressive Field.
Right-handed Giancarlo Stanton figures to move up to fourth in the lineup versus Boyd, as Aaron Boone indicated earlier in the series.
The Yankees have avoided bunching lefty hitters or righty hitters together against Cleveland because of their dominant bullpen, with Boone saying earlier in the series: “I don’t like four out of five lefties from five on down and three out of four righties [at the top], where I guarantee that I net [lefty Tim] Herrin and so and so for all the lefties, I net their best righty for all the righties.”
But the manager also added, “Now, if a starting pitcher like Boyd starts against us, as I’ve done throughout the year, it’s a little bit different.”
Whether the Yankees go with Jose Trevino behind the plate in place of Wells remains to be seen.
Wells had just a .526 OPS versus lefties during the season and Boone said previously of Trevino, “There’s definitely a possibility he could get in there [in the series].’’
Clarke Schmidt, who will take the mound for the Yankees Thursday, has slightly better numbers pitching to Wells than Trevino and Trevino hasn’t started a game since the regular season finale on Sept. 29.
And while Boone did not announce a lineup for Thursday during a Wednesday Zoom call from the Stadium, he praised Wells’ work behind the plate in the midst of an 0-for-19 slide that also includes nine strikeouts.
“He’s done an outstanding job, all the while going through a little bit of struggles offensively,’’ Boone said, adding he liked Wells’ final at-bat Tuesday, a 106-mph lineout to right after a nine-pitch at-bat against tough right-hander Hunter Gaddis.
“I felt he got a lot of good swings off Gaddis there,’’ Boone said.
Anthony Rizzo got more treatment on his fractured fingers in his right hand at the Stadium on Wednesday before the Yankees left for Cleveland.
Boone said Rizzo told him the hand felt better than it did Tuesday, when Rizzo played his second game since coming back from the injury suffered at the end of the regular season and delivered a double.
“He’ll continue to get treatment and hopefully continue to improve day by day,’’ Boone said.
Rizzo hit eighth in each of the first two games of the series and is 3-for-7 with a double and a walk.
Nestor Cortes (left elbow flexor strain) threw a hybrid bullpen session on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, which was expected to include 10-15 pitches in the bullpen and 10-15 pitches against live hitters.
If that goes well, the left-hander could face hitters again this weekend, keeping himself very much in the mix to join the Yankees’ World Series roster if they make it there.
Cortes said Tuesday night the goal is to throw two to three live batting practice sessions before he could be activated.
“If I do good or not, it’s about bouncing back and not filling up a roster spot for no reason if I can’t go again,” Cortes said. “I think mainly it’s feeling good and then performing would obviously be the next step.”
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