With the Yankees’ season on the line, they are going back to Isiah Kiner-Falefa at shortstop and Oswaldo Cabrera in left field.
A struggling Matt Carpenter also returned to the bench and Harrison Bader was back atop the lineup for Game 4 of the ALCS against Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
Kiner-Falefa had been benched for Games 4 and 5 of the ALDS, but with the Yankees down 3-0 in the ALCS, he was tabbed as the starting shortstop for the second time in this series. The Yankees have not started the same shortstop for back-to-back games since Cabrera started there in Games 4 and 5 of the ALDS. None of the options – including Oswald Peraza, who started Game 2 against the Astros – have provided much production during the ALCS, combining to go 1-for-9 with five strikeouts and a walk – part of the Yankees’ overall offensive malaise.
The left-handed hitting Carpenter, who missed the final two months of the regular season with a broken foot, recorded his first hit of the playoffs Saturday night but entered Sunday 1-for-11 with nine strikeouts.
Cabrera, meanwhile, returned to the outfield with Giancarlo Stanton going back to DH after making his first start in left field at Yankee Stadium on Saturday since the 2019 ALDS.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
