Notes: Hicks' wrist injury; Kluber on Cole

May 14th, 2021

Yankees outfielder was sent for an MRI before Thursday’s game against the Rays after experiencing soreness in his left wrist, manager Aaron Boone said.

“He got some images taken of that today, just to be safe and see what we’re dealing with,” Boone said.

Hicks lifted a seventh-inning sacrifice fly in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over the Rays. The 31-year-old switch-hitter is batting .194/.294/.333 with four homers and 14 RBIs in 32 games this season.

Game recognize game

has two Cy Young Awards in his possession, so the Yankees right-hander can appreciate the run is on.

With eight scoreless innings in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over the Rays, Cole tied a Major League single-season record with his third game of no runs, no walks and at least 12 strikeouts, joining Sandy Koufax (1965) and Pedro Martinez (2000).

“He’s on a special run right now,” Kluber said. “Not that it's confined to just this year, but specifically this year so far, it doesn't seem like he's making any mistakes at all. He’s pretty much flawless every time out. It's a pretty impressive stretch to be that good for that long.”

Kluber, who will start Friday’s series opener against the Orioles in Baltimore, said that he has long respected Cole from afar and is even more impressed now that they are teammates.

“The bar that he's set for himself, he’s continually raised it higher and higher,” Kluber said. “It's on a consistent basis. It's not like he has three or four games and then a subpar game or letdown. Pretty much every time out there, he's doing something that is on the cusp of being historic.”

Flashback
remained perfect with his ninth save of the season on Wednesday. To do so, he had to face Mike Brosseau -- the Rays infielder who hit a go-ahead, eighth-inning homer off Chapman in Game 5 of last year’s American League Division Series.

Chapman won the rematch, blowing a 100.5 mph fastball past Brosseau on a 2-2 count for the second out of a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Chapman said that he held no satisfaction in the strikeout, despite what transpired last October in San Diego.

“I'm just trying to do my job there in that inning,” Chapman said through an interpreter. “Cole threw a really good game yesterday and I was just focused on getting the job done at that time of the game. Whatever happened in the past, forget about that. You can’t really be thinking about that when you're trying to do your job out there.”

Sevy season
faced a group of hitters -- including top prospect Jasson Dominguez -- at the Yankees’ player development complex in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday. It marked the first time that the right-hander saw swings in the box since his Tommy John surgery in February 2020.

Boone said that he was told the session went “really well” and that Severino was clocked up to 96 mph with his fastball. The Yankees have outlined a summer return to the big leagues for Severino, which could be anywhere from June to August.

This date in Yankees history
May 13, 1955: Mickey Mantle went 4-for-4 with three home runs -- two left-handed, one right-handed -- and recorded all five RBIs in a 5-2 victory over the Tigers at Yankee Stadium. It was Mantle’s only career three-homer game and the first of 10 games in which he homered from both sides of the plate.