Yankees drop Anthony Volpe in lineup as struggles…
TORONTO — For the first time this season, Aaron Boone dropped Anthony Volpe into the nine-hole on Tuesday.
While Volpe hit two huge home runs Saturday in the Yankees’ comeback win over the Braves, the shortstop has largely been scuffling at the plate over the previous month-plus, a stretch in which he has moved additional down the lineup.
Volpe, who was pinch-hit for by Ben Rice in the ninth inning of Monday’s loss, entered Tuesday batting .136 (15-for-110) with a .480 OPS over his final 31 video games.
That left him batting .214 with a .680 OPS on the season.
Before the skid started, he was constantly hitting fifth or sixth — though that was when the Yankees have been still without Giancarlo Stanton in the center of their lineup — but he has spent the previous couple of weeks batting seventh or eighth before transferring to ninth as the Yankees confronted Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer.
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe reacts after he grounded out to short against the Seattle Mariners. JASON SZENES/NY POST
Instead of having Jorbit Vivas bat ninth, Boone bumped him up to eighth to stack three left-handed hitters in a row (Rice, Austin Wells and Vivas).
Typically, Boone prefers to unfold out his left-handed bats, but he had six in the lineup against Scherzer.
Volpe batted ninth 9 occasions final season and 32 occasions as a rookie.
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