Yankees bench Paul Goldschmidt in do-or-die Game 3 against Red Sox

Not all lefties are created equal, so Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. are in the Yankees’ lineup against one in a winner-take-all Game 3.

After both lefty bats rookie lefty Connelly Early on Thursday night.

The only platoon matchup that Aaron Boone played against Early was the right-handed hitting Amed Rosario starting at third base over Ryan McMahon, though McMahon figures to enter the game at some point for his defense.

Rice starting at first base leaves Paul Goldschmidt on the bench to also be a late-game defensive replacement, or perhaps pinch-hit against a lefty like Aroldis Chapman. But Early only figures to go through the lineup once or twice, and Rice has been on fire, so Boone is rolling with one of his best hitters.

Boone had said before Game 1 that Goldschmidt, who crushed lefties during the regular season, was “going to play against every lefty we face.”

But Early is not Crochet, and after Rice hit a two-run homer in Game 2, Boone had already begun to soften his stance on whether Goldschmidt would actually start against the lefty in Game 3.

“Benny is playing, swinging the bat so well, especially down the stretch,” Boone said Wednesday night. “He makes it tough. Again, it’s not just, ‘It’s a lefty.’ It’s, what lefty? Is that guy going to be out there for six or seven innings? I want to leverage a spot for whoever my bench guys are to have a good matchup, not three bad matchups that I can guarantee. All of these things factor into it.”

Chisholm had been frustrated about being out of the lineup against Crochet, but played against most non-Crochet lefties during the regular season, and like Rice, served as one of the Yankees’ heroes in Game 2 by scoring the winning run and playing strong defense.