A day after hitting for the first postseason cycle in MLB history, Brock Holt wasn’t part of the starting lineup for the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, The New York Yankees welcomed back Aaron Hicks, who missed the past two American League Division Series games due to his hamstring injury. He returns for Game 4 with the New York down 2-1.
Brock Holt and fellow left-handed bat Rafael Devers, both returned to the Boston bench a day after helping spark the Red Sox in Game 3 to a 16-1 victory.
Right-handed-hitting Ian Kinsler took Holt’s place at second base and right-handed Eduardo Nunez returned to third base instead of Devers against Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia.
Hicks will be playing and leading off in center.
Apart from Hicks’ return to the lineup, the Yankees made a few other changes. Brett Gardner, the reserve who had been taking Hicks’ place in the past two-plus games, does remain in the batting order and will bat ninth and move to left field.
Gardner will be replacing Andrew McCutchen, the outfielder the Yankees acquired through a waiver-deadline trade in the beginning of September. Since his acquisition, McCutchen has practically started all of the Yankees’ games in left field.
Gardner has a decent .286 career batting average against Rick Porcello, Boston’s Game 4 starter. The 56 at-bats Gardner has against Porcello are the highest of his career against any pitcher.
Miguel Andujar has also been replaced. The third baseman who will bat sixth will be benched in favor of Neil Walker.
Hicks’ return comes one day after manager Aaron Boone expressed his wish to give the outfielder one more day off to give the right tight hamstring a bit more extra time to heal. Hicks, also had a similar hamstring injury in his left leg during the final week in the regular season and was removed from Game 1 of the ALDS last week after feeling a bit of discomfort in his right leg.
Hicks started feeling the tightness just before the ALDS opener at Boston. However, he assumed it was just cramping and tried to play through it. At the time of a fourth-inning base hit, he slowly ambled up the first-base line. He was evaluated on the field a couple pitches later by Boone and athletic trainer Steve Donohue after which he was removed. The day after an MRI revealed no damage to the hamstring.
