For the first time this season, Gleyber Torres was allowed a deep breath.
Torres was out of the starting lineup Saturday for the first time in 21 games.
Manager Aaron Boone said he wanted to get Jahmai Jones his first start of the season.
In his first 20 games of the season — a sample size that is small but no longer minuscule — Torres hit .197 with a .527 OPS.
Both those numbers took a slight dip in Saturday’s 10th inning, when Torres pinch hit for Taylor Trammell as the potential tying run and grounded out to third base.
“It always surprises me when Gleyber does go through some struggles, even though that’s inevitable with hitting, because he’s such a good hitter,” Boone said before the 2-0 loss to the Rays in The Bronx. “I feel like it’s a matter of time. … The spring he put together was really, really strong.”
Last season Torres might have been the team’s most consistent offensive producer, a middle-of-the-order threat who posted an .800 OPS with 25 home runs.
Torres is still searching for his first home run of the season and, stretching back to the end of last year, has not cleared the fence in 42 consecutive games.
“He’s missing some pitches that he usually does damage with, that he fouled off or swung through a little bit,” Boone said.
Torres’ season is critical for a to-be free agent who repeatedly has stated that he wants to remain a Yankee.
Jones, filling in at second base, went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Giancarlo Stanton also was out of the lineup, with Aaron Judge shifting to designated hitter for a day game that followed a night game.
Boone said he also wanted to find time for center fielder Trent Grisham, who made just his fifth start and went 1-for-4 with an outfield assist.
Stanton pinch hit in the seventh and grounded into a double play.
Juan Soto, who went 2-for-4, has reached base safely in 19 of 21 games this season.
“He embodies what we’ve always kind of wanted to be as an offense,” Boone said before the game. “At certain times over the years, we’ve been that kind of offense. He embodies it. I think culturally speaking with our hitting group right now, there’s a real pride in having those kind of really tough, grind-it-out at-bats.”
Clay Holmes, who threw a scoreless ninth inning, has not allowed an earned run in 11 relief appearances this season.
His strikeout of Curtis Mead was Holmes’ 300th career punchout.
Infielder Kevin Smith, who had been designated for assignment on Thursday, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
