Hicks fires up Cards with 104.3 mph heat

WASHINGTON -- Jordan Hicks is back locking down the ninth inning for the Cardinals, and he’s back throwing serious gas.

Pitching for a third consecutive day in the Cardinals’ 8-6 comeback win over the Nationals on Monday, Hicks reached 104.3 mph with his sinker while converting his third save in three tries. The right-hander has been near-perfect since moving into the closer’s role last week with Ryan Helsley on the injured list, and he continues to light up the radar gun like he did when he burst onto the scene in 2018 as a fireballing rookie.

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Six of Hicks’ 15 pitches in Monday’s outing eclipsed 102 mph, including a 104.3 mph sinker to Lane Thomas in the game’s final at-bat. It marked the fifth-hardest pitch in the Majors this season, behind only four fastballs from Twins closer Jhoan Duran. It was also the first time Hicks -- who became the only pitcher besides Aroldis Chapman to hit 105 mph in a big league game when he did so twice in 2018 -- reached 104.3 mph in a regular-season game since May 31, 2019.

Hicks struck out Thomas with a 103.7 mph sinker to end the game.

“It moves a lot, too,” Thomas said. “It’s not just a straight fastball. I was taking a strike that last at-bat, and I feel like I probably would have swung the bat at both those balls because of how much they moved in and off the plate. Tough at-bat.”

Pitching on three consecutive days is not a common occurrence for Hicks, who was 21 years old when he hit 105 mph and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019. Prior to Monday, he’d only done it twice in his career, but the last time was April 27-29, 2019.

The last Cardinals pitcher with a save on three consecutive days was Seunghwan Oh on April 21-23, 2017.

“It’s not something I’m new to, but getting to this point has been kind of cautious,” Hicks said. “[The team] wants to hear from me if I’m ready on that third day, because they know I’m pretty cautious about my health. I think that’s why we need communication, and it works.”

So with the Cardinals’ bullpen stretched and the team anxious to turn its season around, Hicks approached manager Oliver Marmol on Monday with a message.

“During batting practice, he made sure to come and get me and say, ‘If it's a save situation, you better hand me the baseball,’” Marmol said.

A save situation did arise, and Hicks wasn’t just available -- he looked like his vintage self.

“He wants the ball,” Marmol said. “He wants to win. That can fire up the club.”