TORONTO _ While the Yankees' Opening Day third baseman has been mending from a labrum tear, his replacement has been tearing it up on a first-place club.
Gio Urshela followed up his first-career multi-homer game on Wednesday at Baltimore with another one on Thursday at Rogers Centre, going deep in his first two at-bats against Blue Jays lefty Thomas Pannone.
In this season of startling next-man up performances by the replacements of injured Yankees stars, Urshela has established himself as an essential player in his own right.
Could this be a case of the understudy subbing for the sore-throated soprano and landing the headline role?
Maybe it's still too early to speculate on Miguel Andujar's future, but Urshela's staying power was on display again in the Yankees' 12-6 win.
Urshela's pair of two-run shots helped the Yankees (76-39) to an 8-0 lead, which the Blue Jays (47-71) cut in half with a four-run fifth against Domingo German.
But in the sixth, D.J. LeMahieu improved his batting average with runners in scoring position to a ridiculous .423 (41 for 97) with a two-run single and the Yankees rolled to a ninth-straight victory.
German (15-2) made it through five innings.
Having his own red-hot month, Mike Tauchman belted a two-run homer in the Yankees' six-run third inning, which also included an RBI single by Cameron Maybin.
Tauchman added a two-run single in the ninth.
Tauchman was languishing in the Colorado Rockies minor league system when the Yankees traded for him in late March, with Aaron Hicks (now back on the injured list with a flexor tendon strain) nursing a lower back strain that would keep him sidelined until mid-May.
Maybin had been discarded to the Cleveland Indians' Class AAA affiliate when the Yankees swung a minor deal for him in late April, when Clint Frazier strained an ankle.
Now, both players are potentially making Frazier expendable.
And Urshela's offensive presence and Gold Glove caliber defense at third base might also make Andujar a prime trade chip this winter, if not a candidate to switch to left field in 2020.
Brett Gardner is a free agent and Frazier is also a primary trade chip in the Yankees' never-ending quest for pitching upgrades.
"That's down the road," manager Aaron Boone said before Thursday's game about any organizational decisions about switching Andujar to left field.
Third base defense has been a challenging part of Andujar's game, but he nearly bashed his way to the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2018, slashing .297/.328/.527 with 27 home runs, 47 doubles and 92 RBIs in 149 games.
Following right shoulder surgery in April, Andujar has been progressing as scheduled.
"The hope is that he'll have a fairly normal offseason and be ready to go once spring training starts," Boone said.
Speaking generally about a potential position switch, Boone mentioned Andujar's "special" talent for hitting and offered that Andujar "does have the athleticism to do a lot of different things" on a baseball field.
Urshela's ascension is nothing short of remarkable, given his status as a non-roster player through the end of spring training.
It was a year ago this week that the Yankees obtained Urshela, 27, from the Blue Jays for cash considerations.
To that point, Urshela was a career .225 hitter in 167 big league games with Cleveland and Toronto, totaling eight home runs in 466 at-bats.
"The defense has obviously always been there, what he's been known for," said Boone, though his "ability to make solid contact" had been present on the minor-league level.
"He's been a great player for us all the way around," Boone said. "It's a tribute to him, his talent and his ability to make adjustments."
And to the scouts and stats gurus on the Yankees' staff who pushed for his under-the-radar acquisition a year ago.
