Mark Teixeira’s injured hamstring figured to lead to some tough decisions for Joe Girardi, and one of the first came on Tuesday, when Francisco Cervelli started at first base, which he had never done as a pro.
“In this game, you cannot be surprised,” Cervelli said before the Yankees were routed by the Orioles, 14-5, in The Bronx. “I’ve been catching ground balls, just because I feel like if everybody got hurt, who is going to play?”
Cervelli filled in serviceably, albeit with modest expectations.
“It’s not like I feel like Mark Teixeira or something like that,” Cervelli said. “But I think I’m going to be comfortable.’’
Girardi opted to use the righty-hitting Cervelli instead of lefty-hitting Kelly Johnson against Baltimore southpaw Wei-Yin Chen. Though Cervelli wasn’t able to field a foul pop-up and Ryan Flaherty’s well-placed bunt went for a single, the manager was pleased with his performance.
“He looked OK,” Girardi said. “It’s not something I’m going to do all the time. We’ll see what I do against the next lefty [starter], but it does give me another option.”
As for the bunt single, Girardi said: “I thought he made the right move. … We didn’t get over to cover it.”
Cervelli took grounders at first throughout spring training and after plans to try Alfonso Soriano and Brian McCann at the position never materialized, Girardi decided to take advantage of the fact Cervelli was an infielder in the minors.
Cervelli remains the backup catcher and McCann is still not an option at first.
“It’s not something that I wanted to run him out there,” Girardi said. “I talked about when I give him a day off, it’s going to be a day off. It’s not going to be playing first. I can give him a half-day as a DH every once in a while. But I’ve seen [Cervelli] take a lot of ground balls and I said I liked what I’ve seen. And I’ve never seen Brian McCann take one.’’
But it will be a while before Cervelli is comfortable there.
“Teixeira, he knows naturally where he has to go,” Cervelli said. “I have to anticipate a little more: If the play is a double where I have to be. It’s an interesting position.”
Cervelli has played four games at third base and one game at second, but had never appeared at first base in his major league career.
Yangervis Solarte has shown no signs of slowing down. The career minor-leaguer added two more doubles Tuesday and has six for the season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first player since 1900 with at least six doubles through his first seven career games.
“I’m not going to try to figure it out,” Girardi said. “I like what I see. He’s taken advantage of this opportunity and we’ll keep running him out there.”
Since Girardi gave Jacoby Ellsbury a day off in Houston, the new center fielder has been red hot. He had three more hits and now has 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats after beginning the season 0-for-7.