When Aaron Hicks lined a two-out single to right in the fifth inning Friday night, Ron Gardenhire flashed the green light: Steal second base if you can. Only problem was, pitcher Justin Grimm had an unusually fast windup that made a normal stolen base unlikely.
So Hicks resorted to a play not frequently used in the major leagues: the delayed steal.
"We worked on doing that in spring training, but that was a great time to break it out. A heads-up play," Gardenhire said. "[Grimm] was going really quick to home ... so he was looking at the infielders, seeing if they were dropping their heads, which they did."
So Hicks waited a couple of pitches, then took a couple of "crow hops" toward second base after Grimm's third pitch. When no infielder moved toward the bag, he darted for second.
"The guy was like 1.1, 1.15 [seconds to wind up], so you're not going to steal. So I tried to take advantage of [the batter, Pedro] Florimon being a lefthanded hitter, and catch them asleep a little bit," Hicks said. Florimon blocked catcher A.J. Pierzynski's view, making it unlikely that he would try a pickoff move, giving Hicks an even better chance.
It worked. Hicks was safe, and shortstop Elvis Andrus was late to the base, so Pierzynski's throw bounced into center field, allowing Hicks to take third.
Even Rangers manager Ron Washington was impressed by the play. If not with his team's reaction to it.
"I like the delayed steal, especially when you can catch two infielders not backing up [the base]. Whenever there's a runner on first base and there's no action at home plate, both infielders are supposed to [move] toward second base," Washington said. "We didn't do it, and that's why the ball ended up in center field. I'm constantly [preaching], 'Back it up, back it up.' And we got caught."
