Sports Headlines

Hicks homers leading off 9th as A's beat Rangers

Posted: 9:57 PM Jul 18, 2012

Brandon Hicks led off the bottom of the ninth with a towering home run to center for his first major league clout, lifting the Oakland Athletics to a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.

Hicks connected off Michael Kirkman (0-1) for Oakland's majors-leading ninth walkoff win. He became the fourth player in franchise history to hit a game-ending homer for his first career longball and the second this year, joining Derek Norris on June 25 against San Francisco.

Josh Reddick hit a tying two-run double with two outs in the seventh as the A's salvaged a two-game split with the AL West-leading Rangers.

Evan Scribner and Sean Doolittle each pitched a perfect inning and All-Star Ryan Cook (3-2) worked the ninth for the win.