Yankees' Stanton could return to team Monday against Phillies

BOSTON (AP) — Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton could be activated for Monday's series opener at Philadelphia.

Stanton hasn't played since straining his left hamstring while running the bases on June 22.

“He’s still going through it his weekend,” New York manager Aaron Boone said before Friday night's series opener against the Boston Red Sox. “He’ll probably be back — we're shooting for Monday in Philly, but we'll see also how these next couple of days go, too. I know he’s doing a heavy day back there today, so let's get through that and see where we're at.”

Stanton is on the injured list for the eighth time in six years. The 34-year-old played in 69 of the Yankees’ first 79 games — none in the field — and is hitting .246 with 18 homers and 45 RBIs. By not playing the field, it actually is helping the possibility of a quicker return to the big leagues.

“He’s pretty much done everything he needs to do. Now it’s about building, though, building a little bit of volume,” Boone said. “Obviously, he doesn’t play the field that much, but you’ve got to build up that volume.”

If Stanton returns Monday, he will have missed 28 games. He missed 266 of 708 games in the past five seasons (38%).

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