ARLINGTON, Texas — After standing by Alex Verdugo as his left fielder, Aaron Boone got here to Verdugo’s defense again on Wednesday night for not running hard on a groundout.
Within the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 10-6 loss to the Rangers — which they trailed 5-0 on the time — Verdugo hit a grounder to second base and jogged up the road without much urgency. Boone said he understood the way it looked, but didn’t take issue with it.
“He’s OK. He’s beat up. He’s playing his ass off,” Boone said after the Yankees dropped a 3rd straight series. “He picks his spots to where — when he must, he beats out the force play, beats out a double play, gets the infield hit.
“Sometimes I wish it could look a little bit higher on certain ones but when he hits the one-hopper to the second baseman and he’s got it, I get the look. But I don’t have any issue with how hard he’s playing the sport.”
Asked about being “beat up,” Verdugo said, “I’m high-quality.”
Boone pulled Gleyber Torres from a game last month for not hustling on a line drive to left field that he thought was a house run, only to find yourself on first base, which eventually cost the Yankees a run.
However the manager viewed Verdugo’s situation in a different way on Wednesday, not pulling him until taking out your entire starting outfield in the underside of the eighth inning of the blowout loss.
Verdugo, who bumped into a wall at Nationals Park last week to make a catch, went 1-for-3 Wednesday.
Amid calls for Jasson Dominguez to be called up and replace him, Verdugo is batting 14-for-41 with two extra-base hits over his last 11 games.
There was enough concern about Austin Wells’ sore right hand/wrist on Tuesday that the Yankees at one point considered flying in one other catcher in time for Wednesday’s series finale against the Rangers.
But by the point they left Globe Life Field on Tuesday night, Wells had shown enough improvement that they held off on that call, and so they continued to be encouraged on Wednesday.
Wells still remained out of the lineup for a second straight game, after getting hit with a 95 mph fastball in Monday’s game, but he was capable of swing a bat on Wednesday and Boone expects him to begin Friday’s series opener against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Wells got an X-ray and CT scan on Tuesday to rule out any form of a fracture.
Each tests got here back negative, which the catcher said gave him some assurance. He said swinging on Wednesday “felt pretty good.”
After missing three months with a lat strain, Clarke Schmidt is champing on the bit to get back on an enormous league mound, which he’ll do on Saturday in Chicago.
“Pumped, of course,” Schmidt said Wednesday. “It’s been a protracted journey. Feeling really good physically and just really excited to get back out here.”
The fitting-hander is hoping he can pick up right where he left off in May, which was pitching to a 2.52 ERA through his first 11 starts.
He’ll still be on a pitch count somewhere around 75 on Saturday, with Nestor Cortes more likely to pitch behind him because the Yankees work out how you can handle their rotation crunch.
“The principal reason I used to be having a lot success was my command was in a very great spot and my stuff was maintaining very well,” Schmidt said. “Those two things have really checked out thus far in these rehab outings.”
The Yankees transferred Ian Hamilton’s rehab project to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he tossed 1 ²/₃ perfect innings on 26 pitches Wednesday night.
It’s possible that Hamilton could join the Yankees as soon as this weekend if he stays healthy.
After hitting his 51st home run on Aug. 25, Aaron Judge has now gone nine straight games without one, marking his longest “drought” of the season. … Duke Ellis recorded his first profession hit with a single to left field within the ninth inning against Grant Anderson.
