ARLINGTON, Texas — After leaving Tuesday’s game with cramping in his left hamstring, Gary Sanchez was “good to go” Wednesday, according to Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
Still, the manager opted to keep Sanchez out of the starting lineup Wednesday night against the Rangers, with Kyle Higashioka behind the plate and Aaron Judge getting another day as DH.
Boone indicated Sanchez would play in Thursday’s day game.
The Yankees director of pitching, Sam Briend, is currently with the team in Texas due in part to pitching coach Matt Blake’s continued absence after he tested positive for COVID, but Briend is keeping an eye on Deivi Garcia at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where the right-hander has had two solid outings in a row.
Briend pointed to two changes Garcia — who turned 22 on Wednesday — made that may have led to the improvements, since he’d struggled with his command for much of the spring and early part of the season.
Briend said Garcia’s delivery “got a little sideways” and was too rotational. That’s been addressed, according to Briend and they’ve also worked on his slider.
“His last two starts [with SWB], he’s been electric,’’ Briend said of the outings when Garcia has given up just an unearned run on five hits and two walks, while striking out 16 over 10 innings.
Now they just need him to take that to The Bronx.