Two Hicks homers make him Aaron of the Day
For the first time in four games, Aaron Judge didn’t hit a home run. But another Aaron did — twice. Aaron Hicks went deep in the first inning and the seventh inning on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, accounting for all of the Bombers’ runs in their 3-2 win over the Rays. Hicks’ second home run, a two-run shot in the seventh, gave the Yankees (5-4) the lead and turned out to be the game-winning play.
“Both home runs I was looking for a pitch to hit,” Hicks said. “Something up in the zone and that I could handle.”
And that’s exactly what he got. His first dinger came off of Rays (5-5) starter Matt Andriese, who left a changeup way up in the zone that Hicks pulled into the right field seats. The second homer came from the right side of the plate, off of a Xavier Cedeño changeup. It was the first time in Hicks’ career, he said, that he’d homered from both sides of the plate in the same game.
Hicks is settling into his fourth outfielder role after losing out on the starting right fielder job to Aaron Judge in spring training. Last year, it was a job that Hicks struggled in, hitting .217/.281/.336 in 123 games. In a small sample so far this year, he’s put up a .313/.476/.750 triple-slash.
Hicks admitted that he was disappointed for a few days after being told he hadn’t won a starting job.
“I give him a lot of credit because I thought he turned the page really quickly,” Joe Girardi said. “That’s not easy to do. He’s played extremely well.”
HARD KNOCKS
Brett Gardner knows he’s fortunate to have walked away from his high-speed collision with Rickie Weeks Jr. Wednesday with just a few bumps and bruises.
A day after the big hit, Gardner revealed that he had avoided a concussion or other serious injury. While he didn’t play on Thursday, he was available off the bench despite being just over 24 hours removed from the crash near first base. Hicks started in Gardner’s place.
“Lucky to have come away from that like I did. Obviously could have been something more serious,” he said. “But I feel pretty good.
“A little sore. Pleased with how I feel.”