MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits of the Final Week
5. John Hicks, Detroit Tigers, 53 percent
There wasn’t much reason to go to Guaranteed Rate Field on Chicago’s South Side Saturday, even for a double-header. On a dreary, rainy season-ending weekend, the twin bill pitted the improving but still mediocre White Sox against the godawful Detroit Tigers stuck with baseball’s worst record at 46-112 entering play.
To make things worse for the visitors, they got hammered 7-1 in the opener and trailed Chicago 2-1 through eight innings of the second game.
In the ninth, though, a pair of players in whom the Tigers have invested high hopes finally stepped up, enabling Detroit to get through the night with a split.
The Tigers also got help, in the form of Sox shortstop Tim Anderson’s throwing error on a ground ball by Ronny Rodriguez to start the inning. Alex Colome retired Dawel Lugo on a fly ball, but one of those youngsters, Travis Demeritte, grounded a single into left that sent Rodriguez to third base with the potential tying run.
That brought up Hicks, a three-year veteran, in a pinch-hit situation. This has not been a good season for Hicks, whose .210 batting average is well off both his 2018 and career levels. To make things more difficult, Colome got ahead 1-2 before making a mistake in the strike zone.
Hicks took full advantage, pulling a pitch down the left-field line for a three-run home run that gave Detroit a stunning 4-2 advantage. The Tigers scored more runs on that single swing than they had pushed across in all 17 innings played to that instant.
And even though Yoan Moncada’s ninth-inning home run moved the White Sox back within one run, it was enough to seal an eventual 4-3 Tiger victory.