Just as he was beginning to mash, Aaron Hicks went down in a heap of pain Tuesday night in The Bronx.

Hicks fouled a ball off his right shin in the third inning of the Yankees’ 4-3 loss to the Reds, forcing his early exit with what the team said was a right shin contusion. X-rays were negative, but Hicks was headed for a CT scan “to be safe,” according to manager Aaron Boone.

“Obviously it got him pretty good,” Boone said. “Hoping for the best there.”

Upon fouling the ball off his leg, Hicks crumbled to the ground and was tended to by Boone and a trainer. Once the outfielder finally got to his feet, Hicks walked off the field gingerly with the help of a trainer and was replaced mid-at-bat by Marwin Gonzalez.

Over his last eight games coming into Tuesday, Hicks was batting .385 with three doubles, a triple, three home runs and a 1.423 OPS — the seven extra-base hits one more than he had in his first 67 games of the season combined.

Gonzalez remained in the game in left field, with Joey Gallo moving from left to center to take over for Hicks. It marked Gallo’s first action in center field as a Yankee, not having played there since 2020 with the Rangers.

A portion of the Yankee Stadium crowd chanted for Aaron Judge to enter the game for Hicks, but Boone remained committed to giving him a day off until using him as a pinch hitter in the ninth.