Aaron Hicks had a night to forget in left field on Friday, dropping a fly ball on the run right along the left field line, and momentarily sulking in the corner while two Rays runners scored on the drop that was ruled fair, while Hicks thought it was foul.
One batter later, a hard line drive soared over Hicks’ head as he took a suboptimal route on a tough liner, allowing another run to score.
By the next inning, Hicks was out of the game.
“Ball down the line, I thought I caught it,” Hicks said. “I thought I was in foul ground. I should have, as soon as I missed it, gotten the ball in as fast as possible. And I just got beat on the other one. Ball was hit hard right over my head. If I make the first one, we’re out of the inning.”
Aaron Boone noted that the second ball was a “very tough” one to make a play on, and that he felt for him, but also felt it was necessary to make a change in left field at that point in the game.
“Pretty much that he was taking me out of the game, that he’s gonna sit me and I gotta make those plays to help our team win,” Hicks said of Boone’s message to him.
“I got benched during the game. That’s rough, especially when all you wanna do is produce for your team, and your first at-bats are strikeouts. It is what it is. I just gotta prepare for tomorrow.”
It was an undesirable climax in what has been a forgettable season for Hicks, who has finally been consistently healthy, but has been anything but consistent in the field and at the plate. But the dropped fly ball on Friday doomed the Yanks in an eventual 4-2 defeat.
“I don’t know how I missed it,” Hicks said. “It was in my glove, and all of a sudden it’s out of my glove. Next thing you know, runners are running all around and scoring. It’s a play you gotta make.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
Listen live to WFAN:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker (just say ‘Play W-F-A-N’)
