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Bautista bats cleanup for 1st time since 2015
- Updated: September 7, 2016
NEW YORK — The Blue Jays’ struggles on their nine-game road trip prompted a change in the lineup, which saw Devon Travis move into the leadoff spot while Jose Bautista was moved down to become the club’s new cleanup hitter for Wednesday’s series finale against the Yankees.
Travis has hit first 24 times this season, but all of those previous games came when Bautista or other prominent hitters were out of the lineup. Bautista got the start in the cleanup position for just the 15th time in his career and first since April 27, 2015.
The 25-year-old Travis entered Wednesday leading the Blue Jays with 54 hits since the All-Star break. He posted 19 multihit games over that span while hitting .318 (54-for-170) over 41 contests.
“Just trying to shake it up, just a hair, that’s it,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who kept Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots of the lineup, respectively. “Maybe a little spark. … Try something new.”
Gibbons made the decision to move Bautista down in the lineup as Toronto had dropped four of its …
