The Yankees are winning games at a pace they haven’t done in years, but they’re losing players at an alarming rate, as another victory over the Blue Jays also cost them Didi Gregorius.
The shortstop was forced out of Sunday’s 10-2 victory in The Bronx with what Aaron Boone called a “significant bruise” on his left heel suffered during a six-run first inning that helped the Yankees finish a three-game sweep.
Boone said a stint on the disabled list was possible and the team would know more Monday.
Gregorius collided with Toronto first baseman Kendrys Morales while beating out an infield hit and remained in the game long enough to score on Greg Bird’s grand slam that capped the inning.
He was removed in the third and replaced in the lineup by Ronald Torreyes (who had three hits), as Gleyber Torres shifted to shortstop.
If Gregorius winds up on the DL, he’ll join Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, while Giancarlo Stanton also deals with a tight left hamstring. Torres would get the “bulk” of time at short, according to Boone, as Torreyes and potentially Neil Walker move to second.
“Injuries are injuries,’’ Boone said of the numerous pieces of his offense he’s missing. “They’re part of it. You hope to avoid them as much as you can — especially to key guys — but whether they’re freakish, significant or small, they’re all things you have to deal with and we will.”
They certainly haven’t stalled the offense, as the Yankees improved to 32 games over .500 (78-46) for the first time since the end of the 2011 season (97-65).
In the 23 games since they’ve been without both Sanchez and Judge, the Yankees have scored four or more runs 19 times, including Sunday, when they jumped on Toronto left-hander Ryan Borucki.
Their first six batters reached to start the game and J.A. Happ, who allowed a two-out homer to Randal Grichuk in the top of the first, delivered another strong outing.
Happ, facing the team he was acquired from last month, retired the first two batters before Grichuk’s homer gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.
The Yankees roared back in the bottom of the inning, as Aaron Hicks and Stanton led off with walks and then executed a double-steal on the first pitch to Miguel Andujar.
Andujar’s hard single through the left side of the infield scored Hicks to tie the game at 1-1. Gregorius reached on the infield single and stayed down after he was forced to run over Morales at the bag, with Morales in the baseline.
The hit drove in Stanton to make it 2-1. Torres reached on an infield hit to load the bases for Bird, who followed with his second grand slam of the season — and his career.
Happ responded with four consecutive scoreless innings until Morales led off the sixth with a homer.
The Yankees have won all seven games started by Happ and Lance Lynn since they arrived prior to the non-waiver trade deadline.
Jonathan Holder and Sonny Gray tossed 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings in relief, as the Yankees responded to losing three of four at home with winning three straight to close out an 11-game homestand 7-4.
They tacked on four more runs in the sixth, with Kyle Higashioka adding a two-run single. Toronto manager John Gibbons was ejected for arguing a call at first as the Yankees blew things open.
While the Yankees survived another blow on Sunday, their resiliency will be tested further if Gregorius is out for an extended length of time.
Stanton, though, said the number of games Gregorius misses isn’t as critical as him returning at full strength.
“What’s important is he gets himself right and takes all the time he needs,’’ Stanton said. “I think we’ve responded well [to losing players to injuries]. And we have to. These are good tests to get us out there playing when we’re not at our full potential.”