Aaron Boone listened to Aaron Hicks’ argument that he wanted to be in the lineup Monday night, when the Yankees played the Red Sox in Game 3 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium, hoping to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five affair.
The manager decided another game off would benefit Hicks’ right hamstring, but the discussion wasn’t over. After Boone put Brett Gardner in center field against right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, Hicks was going to state his case one more time.
“I am going to try again tonight,” Hicks said on the way off the field during batting practice in which he hit and played catch.
Hicks went 0-for-2 facing Boone. Gardner remained in center and Hicks was on the bench.
Earlier in the day, Hicks went through agility drills with director of strength and conditioning Matt Krause, ran first to second and first to third without an issue.
“Everything went good, BP was good, the leg feels good,’’ Hicks said.
Yet it wasn’t enough to get him in the lineup, and he hopes he doesn’t have to plead harder to start in Game 4, though he is ready to increase the discussion’s tone if needed.
“Of course, I want to be on the field,’’ said Hicks, who was available for pinch hitting and defense off the bench.
When Boone had the same discussion before Game 2 in Boston on Saturday, he didn’t get the pushback he received Monday.
“Today he was different as far as when I told him I wasn’t going to play him, the other day he was less. Today he said, ‘No, I am good to go.’ And he looked much better in the things that Matt Krause put him through,’’ Boone said. “He was more emphatic about wanting to be out there tonight.’’
Hicks left Game 1 in Boston on Friday night with a tight right hamstring in the fourth inning and said it didn’t feel as bad as the same injury to his left hamstring late in the season.
As much as Boone knows that the switch-hitting Hicks is an important cog in the Yankees’ lineup, the manager didn’t want to lose Hicks completely if something happened with a hamstring that can be fickle and at times results in long absences.
“I just felt like just with the nature of hamstrings sometimes and him being a center fielder and his legs being so important to him in the middle of the diamond, I just felt, and the fact that we’ve got a guy like Brett Gardner as an option, I just really felt like not starting him tonight. Hopefully, it’s something that benefits him even further,’’ Boone said.
Boone said he believed using Hicks in a shorter role and not asking him to race around center field, on a night when a light mist fell during batting practice, would help his leg.
“He is an active player tonight for us. I wouldn’t hesitate to use him, not just in a pinch-hitting situation, but putting him in the game and feeling like he’s ready to do that,’’ Boone said.
If Boone didn’t have Gardner to fill in, perhaps he would have started Hicks and hoped nothing happened to a player who hit 27 homers and drove in 79 runs in 137 regular-season games.
“With Gardy kind of being our extra outfielder right now, it is a really strong alternative,’’ Boone said of the former leadoff hitter, who drew a crucial walk in the second inning of Game 2 that led to a run in the 6-2 victory.
