Hicks benched in Yankees’ loss to Rays after missing 2 flyballs

Friday September 9, 2022

New York Yankees 2, Tampa Bay Rays 4

Aaron Hicks was taken out of the game in the middle of the fourth inning after he failed to catch two balls hit to left field that led to run-scoring doubles. The Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Friday night to pull within 3 1/2 games in the AL East.

Randy Arozarena hit a double that scored a run in the first inning off of Frankie Montas (5-12), putting the Rays in front for good.

In the fourth inning, Wander Franco hit a drive with two outs and two runners on that dropped out of Hicks’ glove along the foul line in left field just before the wall. Hicks hung his head down for a few seconds because he thought he had caught the ball and the drive was out. Before he moved and picked up the ball, two runs had already been scored.

A sold-out crowd of 46,160 people at Yankee Stadium booed Hicks on the same night that former captain Derek Jeter was honored before the game.

The next pitch was hit by Arozarena to the left, and Hicks took a bad route on a hard fly. The ball dropped behind him on the warning track, and Franco scored to give his team a 4-0 lead.

At the start of the fifth, Estevan Florial, a rookie, took over for Hicks, which made the crowd cheer. Hicks is in the fourth year of a seven-year, $70 million contract. He has struck out twice and is hitting.157 with two extra-base hits in 122 at-bats since the All-Star break. His average for the season is.212 and he has 36 RBI.

Drew Rasmussen (10-4), who came back from paternity leave, gave up six hits in six scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters. The Rays have won nine of the last ten and 15 of the last 18.

In the seventh, Aaron Judge hit a single that drove in a run. In the ninth, Kyle Higashioka hit a home run off of JT Chargois. After Judge walked with two outs, Gleyber Torries hit a fly ball to the warning track in right field.

Franco went 3 for 5 with two runs scored and two RBIs after being sidelined since July 9 with a broken bone in his right hand.

In 5 2/3 innings, Montas let in four runs, nine hits, and four walks. Since he was bought from Oakland, his record is now 1–3 and his ERA is 5.94.

Seven regulars were not playing for New York, which lost for the second time in a row. Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Andrew Benintendi, and Matt Carpenter are all hurt, and Josh Donaldson and Jose Trevino are on the paternity list.

As a pinch-hitter with two runners on in the sixth, Stanton hit a groundout to end the inning. He is now 4 for his last 39 at-bats.

UP NEXT

Jameson Taillon (12-4, 3.95 ERA), a right-handed pitcher for the Yankees, will try for the third time to get his 50th win.

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