Why Yankees’ Gleyber Torres was put in cleanup spot for first time as pro

Rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres’s first game in as the Yankees cleanup hitter came Saturday night with the Red Sox starter ace left-hander Chris Sale.

NEW YORK — Yankees manager Aaron Boone played in an era in which big guys who hit a lot of home runs and struck out a lot usually batted fourth in lineups.

No longer the case in this time in baseball where matchups and analytics influence lineup decisions, Boone’s cleanup hitter for Saturday night’s big game against the Boston Red Sox was rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres.

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The Red Sox pitcher for Saturday night?

Only Chris Sale, one of toughest lefty starters in baseball.

Yes, the game sure has changed.

Torres is a rising star with 14 homers in his first 2 1/2 months with the Yankees, but he’d never hit cleanup before in his 59-game, 58-start big-league career or in 230 minor-league starts from 2014-18.

“I guess when you look at it through that …” Boone said.

So why hit Torres cleanup?

It’s simple.

Torres often moves up to the fifth or sixth spot against left-handed starters, and on Saturday he was fourth behind righty-swinging slugger Giancarlo Stanton instead of frequent cleanup man Didi Gregorius, a left-handed hitter.

“I think it’s just how it sets up with another lefty out of the lineup,” said Boone, who sat lefty-hitting first baseman Greg Bird to start righty Brandon Drury. “Especially with lefties … I want to space out my lefties (in the lineup) as much as I can. With Bird out of the lineup, I’ll slot Didi back.”

Prior to Saturday, Boone used five players in the cleanup spot … Stanton 43 times, Gregorius (18), Gary Sanchez (15), Aaron Hicks (1) and Bird (1).

This is the highest lineup spot for Torres, who went into Saturday hitting .289 with 14 homers and 39 RBIs in 58 games. Before his first cleanup assignment, he only hit fifth (9 times), sixth (2), seventh (2), eighth (4) and ninth (40) as a Yankee.

“It makes sense to have the righty behind Stanton there,” Boone said. “So I just thought it had a better flow to it with him switching spots with Didi.”

Torres, by the way, hit sixth on Friday night when the Yankees routed the Red Sox 8-1 in the series opener. He was 1 for 4 with a sacrifice fly and his first career triple on a drive over center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr.’s head.

Torres briefly stood in the batter’s box to watch his triple before running, and that led to Boone fielding a question on that during his Saturday pre-game media session.

“We talk a lot and sometimes we’ve had to say certain things, but for the most part I love the way (Torres) plays and the way he goes about things,” Boone said. “Every now and then we all need reminders on certain things, but I didn’t have a big issue with that.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.