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Cincinnati
Reds center fielder Shin-Soo Choo (17) is
greeted by team mates after hitting the
game winning home run during
the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves. photo courtesy of reds.com
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Reds walk-off on Braves on consecutive
homers with two outs in ninth
reds.com
CINCINNATI- The 27th out was just one strike away from being notched by
the Braves on Tuesday night and the Reds were just about done against
closer Craig Kimbrel.
If anyone has seen "The Princess Bride," they know there's a big
difference between being mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is
slightly alive. And then along came Devin Mesoraco and Shin-Soo Choo to
bring the Reds all the way back to life.
Mesoraco and Choo hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the ninth
inning off Kimbrel to give the Reds the most thrilling of walk-off
victories, 5-4, over Atlanta at Great American Ball Park.
"That's exciting. That's why you play nine and play all the outs," said
Reds manager Dusty Baker, who also notched career victory No. 1,600 to
pass Tommy Lasorda for 18th on the all-time list. "You never really
know. We beat one of the best closers in the game today."
The Reds trailed by a 4-3 score with two outs, and Mesoraco appeared as
a pinch-hitter.
"You always have to be ready," Mesoraco said. "It's definitely a change
for me to pinch-hit in a spot like that, but it was enjoyable. The
juices get flowing pretty quick."
Mesoraco saw a first-pitch slider and four fastballs -- with the fourth
one a called strike two. The next pitch was a 96-mph heater that
Mesoraco scorched to right-center field. B.J. Upton made a leaping
attempt at the wall, but the ball landed in the first row to tie up the
game.
"Against a guy like that, I'm just trying to battle and put a good
swing on the ball," said Mesoraco of his first career pinch-hit homer.
"Dusty always says that with two strikes, look for the hardest pitch
away. That's what it was. I stayed on it and went the other way. I knew
I squared it up. I wasn't sure it was a homer. I was hoping. I wasn't
sure. I was watching him, watching him, watching him and then once
[Upton] looked up, it was a pretty good feeling."
Mesoraco barely had time to put his helmet away when Choo finished the
job. Attacking a 2-1 fastball, there was no doubt about his homer as it
landed in the tunnel near the bullpen in left-center field and traveled
an estimated 432 feet. It was his second career walk-off homer.
"It was great, especially against the best closer in the league,
Kimbrel," said Choo, who also homered in the third and leads the Reds
with seven homers and a .333 average this season. "It was a big game
for us."
"That was incredible," Mesoraco said. "Choo has been so good for us.
It's crazy how good he is playing and how good of a player that guy is.
It's fun. He never gives away an at-bat. You always know that, with him
up there, we're going to have a chance to get something going."
After rounding third base, Choo chucked his helmet into the air as he
approached home plate, where the welcoming party waited to pound on him
in celebration. Meanwhile, Kimbrel could only walk off the field and
try to put it behind him.
"It was a fastball exactly where he wanted it, that's what it was,"
Kimbrel said. "And the game's over and you come back tomorrow."
The Reds spent the whole game playing from behind as starting pitcher
Homer Bailey labored over his five innings. Bailey gave up a blooped
double by Andrelton Simmons to start the game, and by the time he faced
eight batters in the first, he allowed three runs and threw 41 pitches.
But Bailey didn't go away quietly and did not allow another hit until
the fifth inning. Another run crossed on a Freddie Freeman single to
give the Braves a 4-1 lead.
While giving up four runs and five hits with four walks, Bailey also
struck out seven. It was the sixth straight game the Reds did not get a
quality start.
"Homer settled down big time," Baker said. "He had a bunch of pitches
in the first inning. We didn't want him to go two or three innings
because then my bullpen would have been wrecked. He did his job. I have
to commend him. I told him after the game going five innings was gutsy
and heads up. He kept us in the game and put us in position to win."
Cincinnati's bullpen pitched masterfully and retired the final 12
Braves batters, as Sam LeCure worked two innings and Sean Marshall and
Jonathan Broxton each threw one.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Reds rallied with a pair of one-out
hits and came away with a Brandon Phillips sacrifice fly to keep it
close.
"We have such a good-hitting team," Bailey said. "I know there was a
little stretch there where we weren't showing it as much. The game of
baseball always comes around in a circle. We knew it was going to
happen. Now to see them getting hot, especially off of Kimbrel, whose
numbers speak for themselves, to come back like that shows a lot about
this team."
Had the Reds lost the game, they would have dropped the first two of
three games vs. the Braves and lost their first home series. Now they
have a chance to return Wednesday to take the rubber game.
"You look back upon that game and who knows? They might have been the
[difference for the] pennant winner or might have been the game that
gives us home-field advantage against these guys," Baker said. "Those
guys will be somewhere around the top when the smoke clears. That was a
big game for us."
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