After 70 video games with out him, Giancarlo Stanton lastly was again in the course of the Yankees’ all of a sudden flailing lineup.
Stanton garnered what he described as an “awesome” standing ovation in his preliminary at-bat within the first inning throughout his long-awaited 2025 debut, and the slugger smacked two hits in 4 plate appearances in the course of the Yanks’ 1-0 loss in 11 innings Monday evening to the Angels.
“Great to be back. Obviously, [I] want to win, but it’s good to be back out there,” Stanton stated after the sport. “It was a solid first day, and I’ll take it into tomorrow.”
Stanton, who had been sidelined for the reason that begin of spring coaching with tendon points in each elbows, ripped a single to left within the fourth inning and a leadoff double to left within the ninth off Angels nearer Kenley Jansen.
Jasson Domínguez changed Stanton as a pinch runner, however the Yanks didn’t rating for a second straight sport, ending 1-for-18 with runners in scoring place.
Regardless of his multihit sport, Stanton identified that he had a kind of failures to come back by with a tough grounder to 3rd to finish the primary inning in opposition to Angels starter José Soriano.
“Wrong time [for the hits], needed the one in the first,” he stated. “But it was good; I squared up some balls, squared up some high velocity, and that was important.”
Earlier than the sport, supervisor Aaron Boone had stated that Stanton “had a really good work day” on Sunday, including he was “so excited to get the big boy back.”
The 35-year-old designated hitter had gone 3-for-11 in a three-game minor league rehab stint final week with Double-A Somerset — with a double, 4 RBIs, a stroll and three strikeouts.
“He’s built some good momentum here over the last couple of months with it. The strength in his hands and things like that have returned in a good way,” Boone stated. “Definitely one thing we’ll take note of, however really feel like we’re in a fairly great spot.
“He just got through playing three in a row down there, and that third day was up in the air. But because he continued to bounce back, [he played]. Hopefully that’s a good sign moving forward.”
Even with out the five-time All-Star, the Yanks have maintained a first-place place within the AL East standings, though their lead is right down to 2.5 video games over the second-place Rays.
They entered this collection main the American League in runs scored and second in OPS (.794), and Boone now will strive to determine methods to search out common at-bats for a bunch that additionally contains Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice and Domínguez for 3 lineup spots.
“Whatever is best for us to win, that’s the most important,” stated Stanton, who went deep seven occasions in the course of the Yanks’ 2024 postseason run earlier than they misplaced to the Dodgers within the World Collection. “The guys that aren’t starting are going to come up in huge pinch-hit spots, so you’ll have in that opportunity a chance to win the game anyway. So we’ll work with it.”
