Hicks made his first ninth-inning appearance of the season in Friday's win over the Reds, allowing three earned runs on one hit and two walks over one-third of an inning.
The hard-throwing right-hander got only six of 16 pitches into the strike zone and laid the foundation for a save chance for Alex Reyes with his performance. The opportunity to work the ninth inning -- albeit in what was a non-save scenario going in -- was presumably manager Mike Shildt's way of inching Hicks toward eventually returning to a full-time closer's role, but in that regard, the attempt was far from successful. Hicks has notably had some issues with control in recent appearances, now having issued multiple walks in three of his last four trips to the mound.