After Deivi Garcia walked eight batters in 14 innings during spring training and three more in four innings in his lone major league outing this season, his control issues continued Thursday in his first minor league start.
The right-hander walked seven in just 3 ¹/₃ innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“He struggled with his command,’’ Aaron Boone said of Garcia before the Yankees’ 11-4 loss to the Nationals on Friday night in The Bronx. “He struggled with first-pitch strikes. He was probably rushing.”
Garcia has had difficulty repeating his delivery at times, and scouts pointed to that as an issue again this spring.
Since the Yankees’ rotation has held up physically so far, they’ve only needed to go to an extra starter once this season, when they summoned Garcia from the alternate site for a start April 26 in Baltimore and he was outpitched by Matt Harvey.
Garcia, who will turn 22 this month, has seen his velocity increase a bit this season. The Yankees will have another 13-game stretch without a day off following their series against the Nationals, so they might go back to a sixth starter.
“It’s not a great first outing for him in the season,’’ Boone said. “He’s usually pretty good at making adjustments, especially when we identify some things.”
DJ LeMahieu had just one homer on the season before belting two Friday. Both came off Patrick Corbin. LeMahieu added a single against the left-hander, and he is now 21-for-54 with six homers versus Corbin.
All of his hits Friday were to the opposite field.
“It was great to see him get into balls the other way,’’ Boone said.
LeMahieu attributed his success against Corbin to having seen him so many times dating back to the minors, but didn’t get too caught up in the home runs.
“I’m trying to get on base and contribute,’’ LeMahieu said. “Consistent at-bats over a long period of time is usually my strength.”
Giancarlo Stanton went 0-for-4 to end his 12-game hitting streak. He had been 25-for-52 with six homers, four doubles and 11 RBIs over that span. … Aaron Hicks was in the lineup after dealing with leg cramps Thursday. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run.