Hicks likely headed to disabled list
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aaron Hicks is out — and it could be for a while.
The Yankees outfielder left Wednesday’s 5-4, 13-inning win over the Royals in the top of the ninth with a right hamstring injury, suffered as he ran out a ground ball to short. He was replaced by Judge in right. Judge struck out in the 12th.
“It’s not good,” Hicks said. “Running down the line, pulled it a little bit.”
Hicks is expected to go for tests Thursday, but manager Joe Girardi said he doesn’t expect it to be a dayto-day injury, meaning he could be headed to the disabled list.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” Hicks said. “It’s frustrating, especially since I was swinging the bat well.”
Now that Hicks is sidelined, Judge likely will be the beneficiary of even more playing time down the stretch as the Yankees try to stay in playoff contention.
Luis Severino may have been pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night, but Girardi made sure to pay attention to his relief performance.
“I watched every pitch he threw [Tuesday] night and I thought he threw some better changeups,’’ Girardi said of Severino. “His slider was excellent, too.”
Severino is set to be among the call-ups when rosters expand on Thursday, when the Yankees are off. They open a series in Baltimore on Friday. On Tuesday, he tossed 2 ¹/3 scoreless innings and struck out five and Girardi said he could be plugged into the bridge role to set up Dellin Betances.
Severino is likely to be joined by fellow relievers like Bryan Mitchell, Nick Goody, James Pazos and Richard Bleier, along with position players Rob Refsnyder and newly acquired Eric Young Jr.
A day after he was named the International League Player of the Year, OF Ben Gamel was shipped to the Mariners in exchange for a pair of minor league pitchers.
Right-handers Juan De Paula and Jio Orozco were both pitching with Seattle’s Rookie-level Arizona League team. The 6-foot-3 DePaula is just 18 and was signed as a nondrafted free agent in 2014, while Orozco, 19, is 6-1 and was selected in the 14th round of 2015’s first-year player draft.