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Reds erupt in eight-run seventh to claim
set vs. Fish
Votto hits second
homer in as many games; Choo reaches five times
reds.com
CINCINNATI -- Even though he was getting on base in more than half of
his plate appearances, there has been a constant buzz of worry in some
circles that Joey Votto was in a hitting funk.
Votto was drawing walks -- a Major League-most 25 to be exact -- but
where were the home runs? Where were the RBIs?
"I'm not concerned about the home runs," Votto said. "The Reds pay me
to be good. That's all I try to do -- to be the best that I can. If I
go through a little bit of a homer drought, I try to fill in with other
things."
After this weekend, some of those rumblings might finally cease. During
a 10-6 Reds win over the Marlins on Sunday, Votto homered for the
second time in two games while going 3-for-5. He was 4-for-6 in
Saturday's win.
If batting .328 with a .516 slugging percentage and .522 on-base
percentage is struggling, 99 percent of the league's players would be
happy to struggle like Votto.
"I told you everybody is going to worry about Joey more than we were,
even Joey," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
In April 2012, Votto batted .289 with two homers and 15 RBIs. In May,
he batted .355 with six homers and 14 RBIs.
"If you can hit, you can hit. Sooner or later, you're going to start
hitting," Baker said. "You don't just stop hitting. He's not old. He's
not fat. And his eyes are still good. Most of the time when you stop
hitting, your eyes go bad and you get fat around the midsection, your
reaction gets slow and you get old. He's a long ways from any of those.
He's going to hit."
Baker, whose club won three of four in the series and six of the last
seven during the 10-game homestand, certainly is pleased that Votto's
bat has heated up.
"I'm not going to lie, it's nice," the manager added.
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning against Marlins starter
Alex Sanabia, Votto sent a first-pitch changeup over the plate into the
right-field seats for his third homer of the season and seventh RBI. It
was the first time he's homered in consecutive games since Sept. 10-11,
2011.
Votto, who missed six weeks last season after needing two surgeries to
repair cartilage in his left knee, did not homer again after he
returned in September -- which left him at 14 for the season. He hit 29
home runs in 2011 and 37 in 2010.
"So I have a track record of hitting home runs," Votto said. "The year
before that, I spent 30-40 days on the DL, so I might have hit 30 that
year also. Last year after getting hurt, I didn't hit a lot of home
runs. I can understand the concern and the short-term thinking. But I'm
healthy. I've told everyone I was healthy. I've told everyone I'm
working through it. I don't feel obligated to hit home runs to quell
everyone's concern."
In the third inning, Votto lined a one-out single to center field where
Justin Ruggiano overran the ball for an error that scored pitcher Homer
Bailey to make it 2-0.
Votto's impressive on-base percentage is only the second-best in the
Majors, however. On the top of the list is teammate Shin-Soo Choo, who
has a .523 OBP after reaching base in 11 of his last 12 plate
appearances (four walks, two hit-by-pitches, three singles and two
doubles).
Choo reached in all five plate appearances Sunday, including a pair of
hit-by-pitches. He scored twice during the seven-run seventh inning
that broke the game open after it was tied at 2.
"It's the first time in my career," Choo said of his recent clip of
reaching safely. "I don't think about my numbers. Every pitch, I just
focus. I don't want to lose any pitches."
"It's something special. That's just insane," third baseman Todd
Frazier marveled. "Some people dream just to get that. Even when he
gets hit by a pitch, he's on base. It's crazy. It's special. It's
pretty cool."
Choo has been hit by a pitch a league-leading nine times, which is more
than any other National League team this season. It's broken a
110-year-old club record for most hit-by-pitches in a month.
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