A costly victory for Yankees
OF injures hamstring while beating throw to 1st to avoid double play
After losing shortstop Didi Gregorius on Saturday, New York sees Aaron Hicks pulled for injury in the Yankees’ win Monday night.
The players who combined for the run that clinched the New York Yankees’ postseason berth are both hurt.
Aaron Hicks injured his left hamstring running up the firstbase line in the Yankees’ 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, another concern for New York heading into next week’s AL wild-card game.
Hicks’ 11th-inning double on Saturday drove in Didi Gregorius, and on Sunday the Yankees learned the shortstop had torn cartilage in his right wrist during his headfirst slide across the plate.
Hicks, who had fouled a pitch off his left ankle just before the double, left Monday’s game with left hamstring tightness. He aggravated the hamstring in the third inning while running to first base on a grounder to shortstop, successfully beating a relay throw and avoiding a double play. He was replaced in center fielder by Brett Gardner in the middle of the fourth.
“It’s been tight for a few days,” said Hicks, who will undergo an MRI on Tuesday. “I’m not too concerned. In a day or two I should be ready to go.”
New York manager Aaron Boone opted to pull Hicks after watching him stretch in the outfield.
“We didn’t want to risk anything,” Boone said. “Hopefully it’s not anything serious.”
New York’s win eliminated the
Rays and ensured a postseason berth for Oakland, which is likely to be the wild-card opponent but also is still alive in the AL West race. The Yankees began the night 11/2 games ahead of the Athletic for home-field advantage. At 9660, New York is assured of its best record since going 97-65 in 2011.
Gardner had a go-ahead single off Ryan Yarbrough (15-6) in a two-run fifth inning, and the
35-year-old made a running, leaping catch at the center-field wall in the sixth on Brandon Lowe’s two-out drive with runners on first and third. Pitcher David Robertson threw both his arms skyward after seeing the grab.
“That was an unbelievable play,” Robertson said. “It was the game-saving play.”
Gardner hit his head against a chain-link part of the fence but said he was fine.
Catcher Gary Sanchez also is of concern to the Yankees. He had two more passed balls to raise his major league-leading total to 17 in just 72 games behind the plate. He had 16 last year, tied for most in the majors.
New York used eight pitchers and allowed only two hits.
Andrew Mccutchen joined Giancarlo Stanton and Seattle’s Nelson Cruz as the only players with at least 20 homers in each of the last eight seasons.. Mccutchen homered in the third.
Stanton had a run-scoring double in the fifth. Aaron Judge hit a run-scoring double in the seventh.