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The Yankees will get another look at Marcus Stroman when he starts against the A’s on Sunday, hoping that the belief shared by both the team and the right-hander that he will perform better in a major league setting than in his minor league rehab assignment proves to be correct.
Stroman, sidelined with left knee inflammation since making just three starts at the beginning of the season, was knocked around in his final start with Double-A Somerset, but he and Aaron Boone are confident the results will be better against the A’s — and not because it’s the A’s.
“It’s definitely a feel and making sure the knee is moving well, the arm and body feel well,” Stroman said of his approach to his rehab, which ended with him giving up five runs and 10 hits in 3 ²/₃ innings Tuesday.
“It’s about getting built up,” Stroman said. “I’m someone that definitely needs the intensity turned up. I’m looking forward to getting back out there.”
Stroman noted he’s been working to figure out how to best manage the discomfort in the knee, something he said he’s dealt with since tearing his ACL in 2015 while with the Blue Jays.
That includes ensuring his mechanics are on point.
“When I’m more efficient mechanically, my knee is getting less stress,” said Stroman, who acknowledged he’d likely always have to deal with it.
The Yankees decided to start Stroman instead of Allan Winans, who allowed four runs in 4 ¹/₃ innings in his start after being recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill in for Ryan Yarbrough, on the IL with a strained right oblique.
Winans was optioned to SWB following Saturday’s game after allowing three runs — two earned — in two innings to open a roster spot for Stroman.
Giancarlo Stanton is still looking for his first homer after being sidelined since spring training with elbow tendinitis, but Boone said he had been encouraged by his early performance.
“He hasn’t hit the ball out of the ballpark yet, but I feel like there have been half a dozen balls hit hard in play or just missed fly balls,” the manager said. “He’s been on time [with his swing] for the most part and I feel like his swing decisions have been really good. He looks really good to me, really close to exploding.”
Not on Saturday, as Stanton went hitless.
He has just one extra-base hit in 38 plate appearances.
Ian Hamilton stared down then said something to A’s rookie Jacob Wilson on Wilson’s comebacker that ended the top of the seventh.
Wilson responded by screaming at Hamilton, who walked off the field.
“It was a bad inning,” Hamilton said. “I was emotional, got the ball and looked in at him. I was upset with the inning. He asked me what I said and I walked off.”
Jasson Domínguez was in the lineup Saturday against left-hander JP Sears, another start for the switch-hitter from the right side and struck out twice against the lefty.
“I feel really good about Jasson’s growth,” Boone said. “It hasn’t been the spectacular season, but I feel he’s been really steady and really solid.”
Boone pointed to Domínguez’s improved defense in left field, as well as his “at-bat quality” from both sides of the plate, even though his OPS is .611 as right-handed hitter and .798 from the left side.
“His at-bat quality has been steady,” Boone said. “He gives good at-bats every day. Even from the right side, even though he doesn’t have the results yet that he’s had from the left side, he controls the [strike] zone right-handed.”
