Yanks prevail after Papi milestone, meltdown

NEW YORK — Aaron Hicks picked an opportune time for his first home run in pinstripes, slugging a go-ahead blast off Rick Porcello in the seventh inning on Friday that lifted the Yankees to a 3-2 victory over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

Things got interesting in the ninth inning, as closer Andrew Miller loaded the bases with one out, but he escaped the threat by striking out David Ortiz looking and Hanley Ramirez swinging to lock down the save. Red Sox manager John Farrell was ejected during Ortiz’s at-bat for arguing the strike-two call that appeared to catch the bottom of the zone. Strike three to Ortiz appeared to miss the bottom of the strike zone, but home-plate umpire Ron Kulpa called it strike three.

After Ortiz went back to the Red Sox’s dugout, he started barking at Kulpa. The home-plate umpire immediately ejected Ortiz, and the slugger had to be restrained by teammates.

Hicks’ blast to right-center field was projected by Statcast™ to land 446 feet away, making it the longest hit by a Yankee this season. It provided the deciding blow in a tight duel between Porcello and Michael Pineda, who held Boston to a first-inning, two-run Ortiz home run over six frames.

Brian McCann had a first-inning RBI double and …

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