BOSTON — The Yankees didn’t just lose Game 1 of the ALDS to the Red Sox on Friday night, they also lost their center fielder.
Aaron Hicks left the 5-4 loss at Fenway Park with tightness in his right hamstring and will get an MRI on Saturday.
“Before the game, it started cramping up a little bit,’’ Hicks said. “It sucks to have to come out of this game. … I feel good right now. We’ll see how it goes.”
Hicks dealt with left hamstring tightness late last month and sat three straight games in Tampa Bay in the final week of the regular season.
This injury was not as serious, according to Hicks, who said he would “do everything I can to be able to be ready” for Saturday’s Game 2.
Hicks led off the top of the fourth with a single off Chris Sale — just the second hit allowed by the Boston starter — but was clearly in discomfort at first base.
After a visit from trainer Steve Donohue and manager Aaron Boone, Hicks was replaced by Brett Gardner.
“It’s not that much pain at all,’’ Hicks said. “I was trying to stay in the game, but my body language was saying I should get out.’’
Hicks, after sitting out those three games on the artificial turf in Tampa Bay, returned to start all three games in the last series against the Red Sox, and he played center in the Yankees’ wild-card victory over the A’s in The Bronx on Wednesday.
The Yankees could replace Hicks on the roster for the rest of the series, but he then wouldn’t be eligible to return until the World Series.
Gardner, whose starting spot has been taken by Andrew McCutchen, was on the bench against Sale and figured to sit Saturday against another southpaw, David Price, on Saturday at Fenway Park. He went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.
Hicks emerged this season as one of the Yankees’ most important players, establishing himself as the everyday center fielder and one of the team’s most productive hitters.
He was third in the lineup against Sale, and as dominant as the left-hander was on Friday night, Hicks managed to reach base in both of his plate appearances, drawing a two-out walk in the first before his opposite-field single in the fourth.
Hicks’ departure just added to the Yankees’ woes in a miserable series-opener, as J.A. Happ was pummeled for five runs over just two-plus innings by the Red Sox and Chad Green allowed both of his inherited runners to score in the third.
And the Yankees’ lineup, which was expected to go toe-to-toe with Boston, was once again dominated by Sale, who showed no signs of being affected by the shoulder inflammation that bothered him in the latter part of the season.
If Hicks is sidelined, Gardner figures to work his way into the lineup and Tyler Wade would be among the candidates who could take his spot on the roster.
