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Hal Steinbrenner says his New York Yankees may need a starting pitching upgrade if they’re going to reach their first World Series since 2009.

Steinbrenner Adidas Ryan Johansen Jersey , the Yankees managing general partner, said Wednesday the club will explore the trade market for an arm, especially considering the recent loss of left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who had season-ending Tommy John surgery on June 7.

The Yankees entered Wednesday with the best record in baseball, narrowly ahead of AL East rival Boston. The club has space to acquire an impact player and still remain under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold, a goal the team has stated several times.

”Clearly starting pitching was always a concern,” Steinbrenner said, speaking to a small group of reporters at an owners’ meeting. ”It’s definitely one of the areas we’re going to be looking at.

”Purposely left a decent amount of money for just this,” he added. ”If we decide to go get a pitcher and if a pitcher’s available, I think we definitely have the flexibility that would allow me to do just that.”

Cole Hamels, Chris Archer and Madison Bumgarner are among the biggest names that could potentially be available at the deadline, but they would likely cost one or more of New York’s blue-chip prospects. Steinbrenner wants to be cautious about moving high-ceiling youngsters to beef up the rotation.

”It depends what the asks are. I mean, I love the young guys,” he said. ”Our fans love the young guys, and I think it’s obvious to all of us. They’ve made a heck of an impact Adidas Will Butcher Jersey , and to see Gleyber (Torres) and (Miguel) Andujar and others, you know, right off the heels of (Aaron) Judge and (Gary) Sanchez and (Luis) Severino, I mean it’s pretty amazing.”

The team does have internal options, and Steinbrenner said he’s willing to stick by some young, untested pitchers if needed. Jonathan Loaisiga will make his major league debut Friday, rookie Domingo German has held his own in six starts, and prospects Justus Sheffield, Chance Adams and Erik Swanson could get looks later this year, too.

”We’ve got some options for August, September, but again, we’re going to look at anything that comes across our desk,” Steinbrenner said.

OFF AND RUNNING

Steinbrenner praised first-year manager Aaron Boone, pleased with his performance thus far despite the rookie manager having no professional coaching experience prior to the season.

”Everything we could ask for. Calm Adidas Taylor Hall Jersey , cool, collected,” Steinbrenner said. ”Players have a lot of respect for him. He’s been great in the clubhouse and he’s been great with his coaching staff, and the coaches he’s brought in have been good so I mean it’s as advertised.”

NO WORRIES

Giancarlo Stanton has been good, but not great, in his first year with the Yankees. He entered Wednesday batting .240 with 14 homers, 34 RBIs and a .797 OPS – compared to a 1.007 OPS when he won the NL MVP Award last season. Steinbrenner believes New York’s marquee offseason acquisition will crank up his production soon, though.

”He’s had ups and downs, but when he gets hot, he’ll carry a team,” Steinbrenner said. ”We’ve all seen that and it will happen. Work ethic is great. Worked his way right into the clubhouse in a great way, teammates like him, so he’s going to be great.”

NOT-SO-FRIENDLY SKIES

New York has had eight games either postponed or suspended by poor weather already this season. If that wasn’t enough of an inconvenience, they’ve also encountered their share of travel snafus- which included having to spend a night at Dulles International Airport in mid-May due to weather and a problem with the plane.

As an experienced pilot himself, Steinbrenner understands that air travel can be an inexact science.

”We all fly commercial and even small jets Adidas Nico Hischier Jersey , even my plane has problems from time to time and I fly a dinky little propeller plane,” he said. ”So you start to get into these airliners, I mean they’re complex from the avionics to the life support systems to the engines to the hydraulics. They’re just complicated machines. … It’s obviously air transportation, very reliable and very safe. But it’s very safe and very reliable because they don’t take a plane up if it’s not close to a hundred percent, right?”

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Yovani Gallardo brings out the best in the Texas Rangers’ hitters. Good thing for him he is on their side.

Gallardo has enjoyed unusually strong run support since returning to the majors after a two-month stint with Triple-A Round Rock. The Rangers averaged 11 runs per game in his three June starts, including an 11-3 thumping of the Chicago White Sox on Friday when they blasted five home runs.

Gallardo hopes he will continue to be a good luck charm when he starts the opener of a four-game series against the Tigers in Detroit on Thursday night.

“This is what they do,” Gallardo told MLB.com and other reporters afterward. “This is the kind of offense we have here. It definitely makes it easier, but yet it is one of those things where you can’t allow it to get out of hand as well. You’ve just got to keep it tight in the strike zone and get some quick outs.”

Gallardo (2-0, 9.00 ERA) didn’t require an offensive explosion from his team against the White Sox, as he delivered his best outing of the season. He tossed 7 1/3 innings on just 90 pitches, giving up three runs on four hits and striking out seven.

“He was in control the whole time,” Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos told MLB.com. “I think he built from that last outing (5 1/3 innings) in Minnesota. It was the same thing; he’s throwing really well.”

Gallardo, who was released by Cincinnati in April, is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA in three career starts against the Tigers, but he has not faced them since 2015.

He’ll be opposed by left-hander Matthew Boyd (4-6 Adidas Andrew Ladd Jersey , 4.18), one of several Detroit pitchers who could be dealt this season.

Boyd has gone winless in his last four starts, though his last start was a quality outing at Toronto. He gave up three runs on four hits over six innings and posted seven strikeouts, his highest total since May 17.

The Rangers have given Boyd fits in the past. He is 1-4 with a 5.53 ERA in five career starts against them. Chirinos has homered twice against Boyd in seven career at-bats.

Detroit will try to bounce back from two road losses to the streaking Chicago Cubs, who have won six straight. The Tigers lost 5-2 on Wednesday, and manager Ron Gardenhire had to depart to the clubhouse early due to heat exhaustion. He is expected to be back in the Tigers dugout on Thursday.

“It’s frustrating to be right there, to be so close,” catcher James McCann told MLB.com. “But at the end of the day, that’s not reflected in your win-loss column. It’s either a win or a loss. We came up short two games in a row.”

The Tigers have lost 13 of their last 15 games, but they do have a hot hitter in Nicholas Castellanos, who has hit safely in 10 of the last 11 games. Castellanos smacked a solo homer and walked twice on Wednesday.

Texas’ Shin-Soo Choo has been swinging an even hotter bat. Choo has reached base in 44 consecutive games after getting two hits, including a homer, on Wednesday. The Rangers will have a quick turnaround after losing at home in extra innings to Houston 5-4 in that game.