Hicks continues revenge tour in Rangers' win

ARLINGTON -- Since Rangers catcher John Hicks was called up from Triple-A Round Rock on June 29, it’s been a revenge tour of sorts, as he’s now homered against both of his former teams.

On Tuesday, Hicks hit a two-run bomb in Texas’ 10-5 win over the Tigers at Globe Life Field. He went 2-for-4 against Detroit, his club from 2016-19, and added a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie.

Hicks had also hit two dingers in the Rangers’ win over the Mariners (his first MLB team) on July 3.

“I'm running out of teams to play against that I played for,” Hicks joked. “Any team you hit a home run off feels great, but there is definitely some added enjoyment out of [the ones you played for]. Hopefully I can get more of the same, obviously it's been a really good week. I’m just trying to take things as slow as I can. Not feeling rushed, not trying to hit the ball right out of the pitcher's hands, just trying to be as relaxed as I can.”

Hicks is also the first player in Rangers/Senators history to homer at least four times in his first four games with the franchise.

Rangers manager Chris Woodward said the coaching staff loved Hicks in Spring Training, but they felt like he needed work defensively. Hicks has clearly improved on both sides of the ball since spring.

Hicks said that although he’s shown off his power during his career, he changed some things with Round Rock hitting coach Chase Lambin earlier this year that allowed him to be more consistent with that power.

“I had a bigger leg kick and was expanding the zone a little bit more than I should,” Hicks explained. “We calmed all that down, and [we] just tried to stay simple and let the ball travel instead of being so antsy that you're swinging at the ball out of the pitcher's hand. We shortened that up a little bit and it's worked out pretty well.”

Woodward said Hicks’ RBI single in the bottom of the seventh was probably the most important hit of the game. His base hit into left field should have only scored one run, but instead brought home two due to an error by Tigers left fielder Robbie Grossman, putting Texas up 7-5.

Woodward added that Hicks has been a “spark” for the Rangers’ offense since getting called up.

“There's some loud sounds coming off his bat right now and it kind of gives a jolt to everybody in the lineup,” he said. “We always kind of need that. It's a great story. Everybody loves this guy. The two teams he did it against were his two old teams, which is pretty fitting.”

Outfielder David Dahl also had his best game at the plate since returning from his rehab assignment on July 1. He went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. The three knocks were his most in a game since Opening Day.

Adolis Garcia and Brock Holt added to the offensive power, blasting solo homers in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend the Rangers’ lead.

Starter Dane Dunning had a terrific outing, going five innings, allowing just one hit, a solo homer to Grossman, over five innings. He added six strikeouts with just one walk.

Woodward said it was good to see the team come out and be competitive after a tough loss in the first game of the series.

“I think I loved the energy all day today,” he said. “I wouldn't say we laughed off yesterday, but we had good conversations about it and we’re trying to avoid games like that. We had good energy all day. We knew we had to be better than we were yesterday, and we were.”