Surging slugger Hicks smacks three round trippers in win

Until Sunday night, the Yankees hadn’t had a three-home run game since Alex Rodriguez did it nearly three years ago.

And it wasn’t the slugger anyone likely would have predicted, such as Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton or Gary Sanchez.

Instead, it was Aaron Hicks, who has been on a pretty good surge, as well.

The center fielder sparked the Yankees 11-1 win over Boston in The Bronx with his first three- homer game of his career, two off David Price and another off Hector Velazquez.

“I blacked out after the third one,’’ Hicks said. “I didn’t know what to do. It was exciting.”

His two-run shot off Price in the second made it 6-0 and then he ended Price’s night with a solo shot to dead center in the fourth. His third of the night— and 14th of the year — came in the eighth. It marked the second time in Hicks’ career that the switch hitter homered from both sides of the plate.

And even though the burst may have been unexpected, it hardly came out of nowhere.

He has hit eight homers in his past 15 games after homering six times in his first 49 games.

“He’s been terrific,’’ Aaron Boone said of Hicks, who hit leadoff again, as he’s frequently done lately against lefty starters.

“He controls the strike zone from both sides of the plate. He’s one of those guys that make the pitcher work really hard. And we’ve seen the power come on here — especially right-handed. He’s hit some re- ally big shots. We need it.”

Hicks didn’t have much of an explanation for why he’s been able to hit as many home runs of late.

“I just feel like I’m making better contact,’’ Hicks said. “I’ve been able to get the ball in the air and use right field to my advantage.”

Last week, he pointed to the fact that he is surrounded by other dangerous hitters — like Judge and Stanton — that force opposing pitchers to attack him instead of putting him on base for the heart of the order.

On Sunday, it was Judge and Stanton behind Hicks.

And these days, there’s not much of a break anywhere in the lineup. They hit six homers in all Sunday — the three from Hicks and one each from Gleyber Torres, Judge and Kyle Higashioka.

“This was as good a night as we’ve had all year,’’ Boone said of the offense.

He could have been talking about Hicks.