Stanton just 15th active player with HR vs. all 30 clubs; who else did it?

NEW YORK -- It has been a while since Giancarlo Stanton looked this locked in at the plate. As he completed a lap around the Majors with a home run against his 30th team, the Yankees' slugger feels like a dangerous threat once more against all challengers.

Stanton belted a sixth-inning home run in the Yankees’ 5-2 loss to the Marlins on Wednesday evening at Yankee Stadium, representing his first career home run against his former club. Stanton is the 15th active player to homer against all 30 teams.

“It’s pretty cool,” Stanton said. “You hear guys do it over the years, from when I was watching as a kid. It’s pretty good.”

The other active players to homer against all 30 teams include: Mookie Betts, Nick Castellanos, Randal Grichuk, Manny Machado, Martín Maldonado, J.D. Martinez, Andrew McCutchen, Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, Hunter Renfroe, Eddie Rosario, Carlos Santana, Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler.

More than six years after his final game in their uniform, Stanton easily remains the Marlins’ franchise leader in home runs (267). His blast off Miami reliever Bryan Hoeing came with the Yankees trailing by four.

It was Stanton’s fourth homer of the year and his third in the past five games.

“Man, he looks good,” said manager Aaron Boone, who was ejected by home-plate umpire John Bacon in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes. “It’s health. Even going back to before him getting really locked in over these last several days, he’s been in the at-bats all year.”

Stanton said he is now “putting together a solid foundation of at-bats” after striking out 13 times in his first 25 at-bats.

“His approach right now is pretty incredible,” said Yankees starter Marcus Stroman, who took his first loss with the club after allowing four runs in five innings. “He’s staying on that ball away, he’s driving it to right field, he’s not pulling off.

“He’s getting to velocity. He’s laying off quality pitches, strike-to-ball pitches in the zone. He’s getting in really good counts. He looks scary in the box right now, for sure.”

Stanton’s present-day teammate Juan Soto has homered against 28 Major League clubs, needing to cross off only the Angels and Rangers, each of whom the Yankees will play six times this season. Aaron Judge has also homered against 28 teams, but he's obviously missing the Yankees, along with the Cardinals. Anthony Rizzo has gone deep against 29 teams -- but he, too, is missing the Yanks.

New man at the top

Less than 24 hours after opining that Anthony Volpe’s future would likely place him at the top of the lineup, Boone moved the shortstop into the leadoff spot.

It could be an extended stay for the 22-year-old, who reached base safely three times on Wednesday and is batting .372 (16-for-43) with a .460 on-base percentage.

“I was excited,” Volpe said. "To be able to hit at the top of this lineup -- hit in front of guys like that -- and just try to get on base to do my job. I feel like it’s a good place to be.”

Volpe said he is “definitely not uncomfortable” hitting leadoff, which he did throughout his Minor League career.

“You’re not always going to get results, but [if] you have the level of at-bats he’s putting in night in and night out, you’re going to be successful,” Boone said. “We’re seeing that. Whether an at-bat ends in an out or he’s getting on base, it’s a pretty high-level at-bat right now.”

Even so, Boone said the change was more about Gleyber Torres than Volpe, stating that he believes Torres has been pressing in the leadoff spot. Torres walked twice and struck out twice out of the six-spot, including an eighth-inning whiff that left two men on.

That’s a wrap

Though a ninth-inning rally fell short, with Judge lifting a bases-loaded flyout to center field that snapped New York’s four-game winning streak, Soto still viewed it as a memorable first homestand in pinstripes.

“The crowds showed up every game and they were unbelievable,” said Soto, who ripped a run-scoring double in the eighth inning and is batting .360 with 12 RBIs. “I’m more than excited that we got the win in both series, so I think it was pretty cool.”

The Yanks won four of six against the Blue Jays and Marlins, building a 10-3 record that is their second-best 13-game start in franchise history, behind only an 11-2 showing by the 2003 American League pennant-winning club.

“We had an opportunity to win all of them, so we’re in a good spot,” Stanton said. “We’re having good at-bats when it counts -- when it matters -- and getting prepped with a lot of traffic. [We’re] being able to have good at-bats under pressure and execute.”