NEW YORK _ Another chance for John Hicks, another hit.
All season long, with the Detroit Tigers or Triple-A Toledo, Hicks has shuttled along, carrying his weight, offering no complaints though he has played well enough to stay in the big leagues.
Now, he's back _ perhaps to stay.
Looking to solidify his standing as the team's backup catcher now and into the future, Hicks delivered the biggest hit in a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.
He saw 10 pitches from left-hander CC Sabathia in the top of the second inning, fouling six pitches off, and popped the final pitch over the short right-field wall at Yankee Stadium for a three-run home run that would hold up. Justin Upton added to the Tigers' advantage with a solo home run to left field in the third inning. It was his 18th of the season.
Anibal Sanchez did his part to make sure the lead held.
Shaking off a struggle in his last outing, Sanchez threw 62/3 solid innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He struck out three and walked one.
Sanchez's only blemish came in the fourth inning, which began with a Gary Sanchez double to leftfield. Then, Didi Gregorious pulled a pitch inside the right field foul pole for a two-run home run. It was smooth sailing from there until the seventh inning, when Sanchez allowed a two-out single.
Bruce Rondon relieved Sanchez and threw tantalizingly good stuff, hitting 100 mph on the stadium radar gun and inducing a groundout to second from Clint Frazier to escape damage.
The Yankees came within a run when Alex Wilson and Daniel Stumpf allowed back-to-back singles in the eighth inning; Upton misplayed the first single in leftfield and was charged with an error and Gregorious smacked Stumpf's first offering for an RBI single.
In came newly-anointed Tigers closer Shane Greene, who was tasked with a five-out save. He recorded two on an inning-ending double play and set down the Yankees in the ninth inning with runners on third and second.
James McCann extended his career-high hitting streak to 11 games. He recorded two hits. The Tigers are 48-57.
