CLEVELAND – There was no hesitation by any member of the Cincinnati Reds asked for an anonymous poll for The Athletic: Bottom of the ninth, Game 7 of the World Series, who do you want at the plate?
Some just looked to a corner of the clubhouse, others pointed, but the answer was the same, and nobody thought too long – of all the players in baseball, there’s nobody the Reds pitchers and hitters would rather have at the plate than Joey Votto.
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It wasn’t Game 7 on Tuesday at Progressive Field, but if the Reds had champagne in the visitor’s clubhouse, they may have sprayed it.
The Reds scored seven runs with two outs in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game. Three of those, including the go-ahead run, were scored on a Votto double against Cleveland’s Dan Otero in what was an eventual 7-4 Reds victory.
The win improved the Reds’ record to 41-51 – not the type of mark that will clear calendars for October at Great American Ball Park, but the type of record that looks damn good after a 3-18 start. Tuesday’s game was the team’s 33rd win in its last 57 games.
And it wasn’t just against any team, it was the Indians, a team that has its warts, but still has the largest lead of any division leader in baseball.
“With each and every win, with each and every comeback win, with a performance of the night from somebody different, I think our team gets more confident and I think we get more excited about the present and the future,” Votto said following the game. “The Cleveland Indians are for real, but with every win, with every comeback, we feel like we’re more for real. We feel like we’re coming along.”
The Reds nearly blew a lead on Monday but eked out a victory. On Tuesday, they looked like they had no shot against Indians starter Trevor Bauer, who struck out 12 in eight innings.
The Cleveland bullpen that was the talk of the postseason two years ago is anything but. Andrew Miller is on the disabled list and Cody Allen has a 4.66 ERA.
So even though the Reds had managed just three hits in the first eight innings, a four-run deficit was hardly insurmountable. Heck, the previous night the home team scored four off the Reds’ bullpen to make a game close.
Indians manager Terry Francona removed Bauer and sent his closer, Allen, to start the ninth. Allen walked Scooter Gennett and then gave up a single to Eugenio Suárez before striking out Jesse Winker and getting Tucker Barnhart to fly out.
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Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman replaced Alex Blandino with pinch-hitter José Peraza, who blooped the first pitch he saw into right field over the head of first baseman Yonder Alonso, scoring the team’s first run of the game.
Riggleman then went to his bench again, sending Adam Duvall to hit for Billy Hamilton.
“You hate pinch-hitting people, to tell you the truth. I hate to pinch-hit for people because you’re taking the bat out of somebody’s hands,” Riggleman said. “Billy’s been so good, he’s had a great month of baseball, but we needed a homer there. I was looking to tie it with one swing. I was looking for a homer more than a baserunner.”
Duvall doubled, pulling the Reds to within a run, 4-3. Francona elected to walk Scott Schebler to face Dilson Herrera, who was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in his first big-league at-bats since 2015.
In what Riggleman called the at-bat of the game, Herrera worked a walk to bring up the guy everyone in the Reds dugout wanted to the plate.
Francona went to the mound and signaled for a left-hander, but right-hander Dan Otero came into the game.
Otero threw two balls to start the at-bat, allowing Votto to get ahead. He swung through the third pitch to make it 2-1.
The next pitch was down the middle, but Votto just looked at it.
“I was very, very apprehensive about swinging there just because we’re one pitch away from tying it. In that situation, the same pitch that comes 3-1, you’re supposed to expect the same one at 3-2,” he explained. “They are very, very similar situations. He’s one ball away from tying the game. I trust my instincts enough in a 3-2 counts to foul balls off or hopefully put a ball in play with good direction. He’s tough, man. I’ve never liked facing him. Today was one of those occasions where I got a good pitch to hit, I put it in play and good things happen.”
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Votto fouled off one pitch before getting the pitch he wanted – down and slightly in. He ripped it into right-center, clearing the bases.
“He got the pitch he wanted and he knew what to do,” said starter Sal Romano, who had been among those to mention Votto earlier in the day as the guy he wanted in that situation.
The Reds added another on a Suárez single before Raisel Iglesias came in to close.
It was the second time in his career that Votto had come to the plate with the bases loaded, two outs, down one in the ninth inning of his career. The other time he hit a walk-off grand slam on May 13, 2012, against the Nationals.
Votto is hitting .298/.460/.536 for his career in the ninth inning or later with a chance to tie or take the lead. The only players since 1970 with a higher OPS than his .996 in those situations are Barry Bonds (1.022), Chipper Jones (1.004), Gary Sheffield (1.002) and Todd Helton (.998).
“I didn’t really think about it. The situation didn’t really register with me,” Votto said after the game. “I didn’t even know we were down by one and I didn’t know that we went up. Every at-bat feels the same. I think deeper into games, at-bats feel a little better just because you’re warmer and your adrenaline is flowing, you’re just in the flow of the game, you find your timing and you’ve seen pitches. I would’ve been pretty upset if I left that game … I think I would’ve been upset leaving that game and taking the last pitch or putting on a poor swing and ending the game like that.”
(Top image: Joey Votto hits a three-run double during the ninth inning against the Indians. Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports)