NEW YORK — New York Yankees left fielder Giancarlo Stanton was not listed in the starting lineup for Thursday’s Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros due to a strained right quadriceps.
Stanton, who will miss his third straight game, tested his quadriceps by doing some running drills approximately four and a half hours before the first pitch of Thursday’s contest. He ran a few times down the first-base line as well as between first and third.
“Today I feel like he was better. And probably for the first time, like, saw some improvement today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Whether he’s running at 60 percent or whatever, don’t feel like he’s ready to be an option in the field for us. I think there’s a possibility of that kind of DH role now. So it’s a little bit of a decision for me.
“He certainly wants to be in there but I thought today overall was encouraging as far as taking a little bit of a step forward, and do feel like he’s more of an option now. And again, he’s an option off the bench for us certainly as a hitter.”
Brett Gardner was slated to start in left field with Aaron Hicks expected to man center field and bat third for the Yankees, who trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
Stanton, 29, is 3-for-10 in four postseason games this month. He homered in New York’s 7-0 win in the series opener on Saturday.
Limited to 18 games due to knee, biceps and shoulder injuries, Stanton batted .288 with three homers and 13 RBIs in the regular season.
Stanton batted .266 with 38 homers and 100 RBIs in 158 games last season after being acquired from the Miami Marlins.
— Field Level Media
