Yankees drop struggling Giancarlo Stanton to 4th in lineup

NEW YORK -- In need of Giancarlo Stanton's cold bat to heat up in the Bronx, the New York Yankees on Thursday moved him in the batting order.

The right-handed power hitter, who had spent all of this young season hitting third, batted fourth when the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 in the opener of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium.

Stanton went 1-for-3 against the Blue Jays, driving in a run when he beat out an infield single he chopped up the middle. The designated hitter also reached on an eight-pitch walk.

"A good, positive step for him in being able to leg out a hit and then work the walk there at the end," manager Aaron Boone said. "He controlled his at-bats [Thursday night], controlled the zone, and hopefully a positive step for him."

Boone said the lineup move was primarily due to the fact the Blue Jays were starting a right-handed pitcher and sporting a righty-heavy bullpen. He said he didn't anticipate leaving Stanton in the 4-hole long term.

"No, I'm not ready to move him down, down in the order," Boone said.

Aaron Sanchez, who also lost to the Yankees on the second day of the season, started for Toronto. Sanchez "historically has been quite a bit tougher on right-handed hitters," Boone added.

Righties entered the game hitting .212 with a .570 OPS and 10 home runs in 776 lifetime plate appearances against Sanchez. In roughly the same amount of plate appearances, left-handed hitters sported better numbers, batting .238 with a .726 OPS and 22 homers.

Stanton hasn't hit well at home since joining the Yankees in the offseason. Before Thursday, he hit .086 (3-for-35) with 20 strikeouts through his first eight games at Yankee Stadium.

According to Elias Sports Bureau research, those 20 strikeouts are the most for a hitter through his first eight home games during the modern era, which began in 1900. The 17 strikeouts Stanton had through his first eight home games in 2010 with his former team, the Miami Marlins, are tied for second on that list.

Boone still anticipates Stanton to ease out of these struggles soon. Because of that, Stanton may be back in the No. 3 hole Friday night. At the very least, Boone won't be placing Stanton any lower than cleanup.

"He's too close to finding that feeling to where he can lock in, so I have no intentions of moving him down further," Boone said. "I still want him surrounded by impact guys.

"Because as I said after the game [Tuesday], you move him down and all of a sudden he's one good at-bat maybe from getting locked back in, and then all of a sudden you're in a situation where it's a blatant pitch-around and those kind of things."

It doesn't look like moving Stanton up in the order to the 2-hole spot occupied by Aaron Judge will be a possibility.

"I kind of love Aaron in that spot, his ability to get on base," Boone said. "He's Giancarlo Stanton. I don't think they're going to groove him pitches because he's hitting second or he's hitting fourth or he's hitting third. Guys kind of get pitched to how they get pitched.

"In the long haul, he's going to benefit more from having traffic on the bases and pitchers being in trouble."

Although he has spent the bulk of his career batting third, Stanton had 961 plate appearances batting cleanup before this game. Third is the only spot in which he has hit more often.

Stanton entered Thursday with a .261 career batting average in the fourth spot. Of his 270 career home runs, 55 have come with him batting fourth.

As he dug in for 23 pitches Thursday, three of Stanton's plate appearances ended in full counts. His manager liked seeing that.

"A lot of deep counts. He was on pitches a lot more, laying off pitches just out of the zone," Boone said.

Boone also announced that reliever Tommy Kahnle will be shut down for 10 days and likely miss a few weeks after being diagnosed with biceps and shoulder tendinitis.

Kahnle had an MRI this week that revealed the tendinitis. The right-hander was placed on the disabled list Tuesday.

Kahnle is 1-0 with a 6.14 ERA in six appearances. With his velocity down this season, he has struck out nine and walked eight in 7⅓ innings.

Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is still in Tampa, Florida, recovering from plantar fasciitis in his right heel as well as oblique and hip injuries. Boone said Ellsbury hit off a tee Thursday.