The New York Yankees granted Aaron Hicks with a starting spot in tonight’s lineup and he crushed two home runs in the process.
Remember when fans were up in arms over the fact that Aaron Hicks might be the starting right fielder for the New York Yankees?
Well, he started in left field tonight and made a loud statement by crushing two monster home runs from both sides of the plate.
Hicks took Tampa Bay Rays starter Matt Andriese deep in the bottom of the first inning, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead. His second home run came in the bottom of the seventh off another changeup to plate Jacoby Ellsbury and give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
Hicks is the 16th Yankee to hit two homers in one game since 2000. The last Yankee left fielder to accomplish this feat was the injured Brett Gardner on Sept. 15, 2015.
Hicks has batted in all three runs for the Yankees this game, backing up a strong performance from starter Luis Severino. Severino struck out 11 in seven innings of work.
Hicks is currently batting .312 on the season after today’s impressive performance. The start came after Gardner got injured in the later innings of Wednesday’s afternoon game.
The Yankees currently lead the Rays 3-2 and Hicks has shown that he can step in anytime and get the job done. Besides, if the game is tied, who else will hit a walk-off home run?