The right-hander punched out five opposing hitters on the afternoon while allowing only one base on balls. He served up solo homers to Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh in the first and third innings respectively, but aside from that the only damage came on an RBI single by Ryan Bliss after Hicks had departed in the sixth. He exited with a one-run lead and in line for a victory, but the Giants couldn’t hold on in the ninth inning for him. He’ll try once more to improve to 2-0 on the season when he carries a 2.38 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and an 11/3 K/BB ratio into a tough matchup against the Yankees in New York on Saturday.

Impressive. Hicks has had control and command issues at times as a starter, but the right-hander was able to throw 51-of-72 pitches for strikes against the Houston lineup while striking out six and walking two. Hicks looked good over the Cactus League as well, and it clearly carried over to his first start of 2025. Hicks is set to face the Mariners on Sunday at home.

Hicks struck out three and issued one walk in his final spring tune-up.

Bobby Witt Jr.'s homer accounted for the Royals’ only run tonight. Hicks struck out three and walked none. His velocity is back up to 95-99 mph this spring, which seems encouraging. He tended to average 99-100 mph with his sinking fastball while working as a reliever, but he was down to 94.7 mph as a starter last year. His average tonight was 97.4 mph.