Luke Voit had eight homers in late April, and by no means was that enough to make up for the loss of Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Didi Gregorius, but it helped.
Nevertheless, since April 26 when Voit homered in his final at-bat, he has hit one homer. Worse, he started the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader sweep of the Orioles at Yankee Stadium hitless in 21 at-bats and with one hit in 30 at-bats.
Though Voit didn’t homer in the Yankees’ 3-1 nightcap win over the Orioles on Wednesday night, he did go 3-for-4 and drove in two runs, which might be a sign he is ready to emerge from his first funk of the season.
“I thought he had better swings throughout the night. He was able to lay off some pitches,’’ manager Aaron Boone said of Voit, who went 0-for-4 in the first game won by the Yankees, 5-3. “That’s being on a little bit better time so you can make better swings. When he does that the results can be what he did tonight.’’
Aaron Hicks returned from an extended stay on the injured list and was in center field and batting third in the second game.
Hicks went 0-for-4 and struck out three time in his first big-league action of the season due to a strained lower back suffered in spring training.
“Like an Opening Day at-bat,’’ Hicks said of his initial at-bat of the season, which resulted in a first-inning strikeout looking. “You hear the crowd cheering loud and you don’t get that in extended [spring]. The moment overwhelmed me but I was just happy to be out there.’’
Kendrys Morales made it to Yankee Stadium for the second game of the doubleheader and was immediately put in the lineup as the DH batting fifth.
“We have a saying in Cuba, our dream is to play for the Yankees and here I am today,’’ said Morales, who went 1-for-2 and walked twice.
Acquired from the A’s on Tuesday, Morales, who will be 36 next month, is in line for regular at-bats as the DH with Miguel Andujar’s season over due to shoulder surgery. He will also spell Voit at first base.
Morales was in Miami when he got the news that he had been dealt.
