Hicks hurts other oblique

At least it wasn’t the same oblique injury. That is the good news — a positive to take from Aaron Hicks feeling tightness in his left oblique Saturday afternoon.

Then again, just when the Yankees were close to whole, another injury pops up, and at the wrong time — the beginning of September.

Hicks injured the oblique chasing down a Hanley Ramirez drive to deep center field to end the sixth inning.

He potentially saved a run, keeping the score even at a run apiece in the Yankees’ eventual 5-1 win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, but it remains to be seen what price he will pay.

“It’s the other side,” manager Joe Girardi said after the Yankees’ crept to within 4 ¹/2 games of the Red Sox in the AL East, referring to Hicks’ oblique injury earlier in the season. “I don’t know what exactly it means. I don’t know if he felt it as much as the last one. I just got the report he felt something and he’s in an MRI tube.”

The 27-year-old missed 39 games when he hurt his right oblique on a check swing in a loss to the Rangers at the Stadium on June 25.

Saturday, he immediately was sent for an MRI exam, as he was the first time.

The results landed him on the disabled list in June. This time, the forecast is more uncertain.

Though Hicks did have a down August upon coming off the DL, posting an underwhelming .217/.302/ .361 slash line with a .664 OPS, he is having a career year, slashing .268/.370/ .468 with a .838 OPS, and a career-high 13 home runs.

The one saving grace for the Yankees is if Hicks has to miss time, Jacoby Ellsbury has played well of late.

The 33-year-old veteran, used as the fourth outfielder recently, tripled in his only at-bat Saturday, and scored a run on a Gary Sanchez single.

Since Aug. 15, he is batting .277 (10-for-36) with eight RBIs and nine runs scored. Ellsbury has also hit safely in five of his past six starts.