Hicks homers twice in Yankees' win over Rays
NEW YORK -- Aaron Hicks homered from both sides of the plate, lifting the New York Yankees to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night and a sweep of a three-game series.
Hicks homered on 1-1 counts during his at-bats in the first and seventh innings.
Batting from the left side of the plate, the switch-hitting outfielder homered to right with one out in the first off right-hander Matt Andriese.
After hitting into a double play in the fifth, Hicks turned a pitch from left-hander Xavier Cedeno (1-1) into a long two-run homer that landed in the left field seats in the seventh inning.
Hicks helped the Yankees improve to 3-0 at home for the first time since 2006 by recording his second career multi-homer game. His other game with two home runs occurred May 13, 2013, for Minnesota when he hit solo home runs off left-hander Hector Santiago against the Chicago White Sox.
Hicks' power display ensured Luis Severino (1-0) of a win after the right-hander turned in one of his best performances. Severino recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts and allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings.
Dellin Betances stranded runners at first and third in a scoreless eighth. Aroldis Chapman tossed a scoreless ninth and notched his second save.
Jesus Sucre had an RBI single and Peter Bourjos homered for the Rays, who were swept at Yankee Stadium for the first time since September 2009.
Andriese allowed one run and five hits in six innings.
After Hicks' first homer, Tampa Bay tied it in the second when Sucre hit a bloop single and Logan Morrison scored before Mallex Smith was caught in a rundown between second and third.
After Andriese escaped trouble in the third and fourth, Bourjos gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead by sending a 2-2 fastball into the left field seats with one out in the fifth.
NOTES: Tampa Bay LF Mallex Smith left the game after the top of the third with a tight right hamstring. ... New York LF Brett Gardner and Tampa Bay INF Rickie Weeks were not in the starting lineup after their violent collision in the sixth inning Wednesday. Both players said they were feeling sore and also felt fortunate that the result of collision was not worse. ... Rays OF Colby Rasmus (hip surgery) could resume a rehab assignment sometime this weekend. He began a rehab stint last week with Class A Charlotte, but it was halted when he collided with another outfielder. ... The Yankees said Jordan Montgomery's seven strikeouts Wednesday were the second most by a left-hander in his major league debut for the team since 1913. Al Leiter had eight strikeouts against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 15, 1987.