CHICAGO — Brett Gardner and Gio Urshela figure to be impacted by the acquisition of Edwin Encarnacion and Giancarlo Stanton’s return from the injured list more than anybody else.
Encarnacion will be used mostly as a DH, which means Luke Voit will handle first base. That means DJ LeMahieu likely will get increased playing time at third base, where Urshela has played regularly since Miguel Andujar went on the IL in the middle of May.
Stanton will play left field, the position Gardner has manned since Aaron Hicks came off the IL on May 13.
“Obviously we have a lot of talented guys in the room and a lot of talented guys headed back which will do nothing but make our team stronger,’’ said Gardner, who started in center field Sunday and helped the Yankees to a 10-3 win over the White Sox by driving in four runs. “You never know. Nobody expected me to play center field 40 of the first 45 days of the season. All the guys we have on hand, we have one of the deepest rosters in the league with a lot of talent. So any time you can add someone as good as Edwin makes us better. How that affects me, that is not something I am concerned about.’’
Urshela, who was in a 0-for-10 slide, singled in a run in the second and doubled and scored in the fifth.
Stanton and Aaron Judge continued their way back to the big leagues Sunday.
Playing in Durham, NC, for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the pair of outfielders hit first and second. Judge, who was 1-for-4 in the 7-3 win, played right field while Stanton was the DH and went 0-for-4.
According to Aaron Boone, the plan is for Stanton to not play in a minor league game on Monday and be in the Yankees’ lineup Tuesday night for the middle of a three-game series against the Rays at Yankee Stadium.
“Probably giving him an off day after [playing] three in a row,’’ Boone said. “Turn it into a travel day with the idea of activating him Tuesday.’’
Boone believes it is important not to run players into the ground and is diligent about giving them days off whether they are playing well or struggling.
Sunday, Boone dipped into each bin and rested a sizzling Didi Gregorius and an ice-cold Aaron Hicks.
In seven games since coming off the IL on June 7, Gregorius is hitting .385 (10-for-26) with a homer and three RBIs in seven games. Gregorius missed all of spring training and the first two months after last fall’s Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing) elbow.
Hicks, whose season didn’t begin until May 15 because of back troubles that cost him most of spring training, was in a 3-for-23 (.130) slump in which he had one RBI and a .503 OPS in the past six games.
Gleyber Torres shifted from second to short and filled in for Gregorius. Mike Tauchman started in right field.
Torres went 0-for-2 and walked three times. Tauchman was 0-for-4.
Cameron Maybin’s seventh-inning home run extended the Yankees’ lead to 9-2 and pushed their consecutive game streak of hitting at least one homer to 19 games. That’s the second-longest streak in franchise history. From June 1 to 29, 1941, the Yankees homered in 25 straight games.