Slumping Austin Wells could sit in Yankees lineup shakeup for ALCS Game 3

CLEVELAND — The slumping Austin Wells could find himself out of the cleanup spot — and perhaps out of the lineup altogether, at least for one game —with Cleveland starting left-hander Matt Boyd in Game 3 of the ALCS Thursday at Progressive Field.

Right-handed Giancarlo Stanton figures to get moved up to fourth in the lineup versus Boyd, as Aaron Boone indicated earlier in the series.

The Yankees have avoided bunching lefty or righty hitters against Cleveland because of their dominant bullpen, with Boone saying earlier in the series: “I don’t like four out of five lefties from five on down and three out of four righties [at the top], where I guarantee that I [get lefty Tim] Herrin and so and so for all the lefties, I [get] their best righty for all the righties.”

But the manager also added, “Now, if a starting pitcher like Boyd starts against us, as I’ve done throughout the year, it’s a little bit different.”

Whether the Yankees go with Jose Trevino behind the plate in place of Wells remains to be seen.

Wells had just a .526 OPS versus lefties during the season and Boone said previously of Trevino, “There’s definitely a possibility he could get in there [in the series].’’