By Hal McCoy
It was an excruciating beginning and an exhilarating ending for the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night in Great American Ball Park.
In the end, it was an exquisite 6-5 win over the swooning Atlanta Braves.
The finishing touch was provided in the seventh inning by Spencer Steer, a two-run home run that turned a 5-4 deficit into the 6-5 win.
And it was historic. It was his 20th home run, putting him into the 20/20 club (20 homers, 25 stolen bases) with Elly De La Cruz (24 homers, 64 stolen bases).
It is the first time two members of the Reds put themselves in the 20/20 club since Barry Larkin and Eric Davis did it in 1996.
Steer, as humble as any pie, was low-key about his personal accomplishment.
“It’s cool, but what we’re trying to do here is bigger than any individual accomplishments,” he said during an interview with Bally Sports Ohio. “I mean, we’re just out here fighting and battling every single day to try to stack up some wins.
“I truly believe if you play the game to win, try to help the team win any way you can, that other stuff will take care of itself.”
With making the playoffs a distant dream, one loss from elimination, and even a .500 season slipping away, playing spoiler is about the only thing left for the Reds.
So why was this victorty excruciating?
The Reds trailed 1-0 on the game’s second pitch by Brandon Williamson, a home run by Michael Harris II. And three batters later it was 3-0 on Matt Olson’s two-run home run.
The Reds trailed 3-0 in the first, 4-1 in the second and 5-1 in the fourth.
The Reds piled up five unanswered runs the rest of the way, Cincinnati’s fourth win of the season against the Braves without a loss.
And it dropped the Braves two games behind the New York Mets for the third National League wild card spot.
It took Reds starter Williamson and relief pitcher Fernando Cruz 72 pitches to get through the first two innings.
And with one out in the second, Williamson delivered a pitch to Harris II and grabbed his elbow. He left the game with an early diagnosis of a strained left elbow.
Cruz replaced him and walked three straight, then gave up an infield single for a run. Then he retired Travis d’Arnaud to leave the bases loaded.
Incredibly, the Braves stranded 14 runners and by inning it was 2,3,0,1,2,2,2,2,1.
And there was drama at the end when Reds closer Alexis Diaz gave up a two-out single in the ninth to Orlando Arcia. He stole second, putting the tying run 180 feet away. Diaz then went 3-and-2 on Harris and struck him out for his 28th save.
The Reds scored a run in the bottom of the first on an opposite field double by De La Cruz and a single by Tyler Stephenson.
So it was 5-1 when the Reds came to bat in the fourth and the pecking-away began.
Ty France doubled, took third on an error and scored on Jake Fraley’s sacrifice fly. 5-2.
With two outs an nobody on in the sixth, France and Fraley singled. Noelvi Marte lined one to right center, driving in France and Fraley also scored when center fielder Harris kicked the ball around for an error. 5-4.
Stephenson led the seventh with a single and Steer struck — a smash into the left field seats that covered 389 feet on a 1-and-2 curveball from Atlanta relief pitcher Pierce Johnson.
It was Steer’s first home run in nearly a month, since bashing his 19th on August 21 in Toronto.
“To be honest, all that time I was just trying to hit the ball,” he said. “It has been a pretty up-and-down year for me so I’ve been trying to stay as even keel as possible.
“I got a lot of reminders throughout the month, that I’ve been sitting on 19 from my teammates, so I won’t have to hear that any more.”
Steer is only hitting .232, but he has the 20 homers, 25 steals and a team-leading 91 runs batted in.
“Like I said, I’m just trying to put together good at bats to help this team win,” he said. “With guys in scoring position, a chance for RBIs, yeah, I pride myself in being a guy you can trust in those big spots.”
After Cruz left, Carson Spiers, Buck Farmer, Brent Suter, Emilio Pagan and Diaz paraded from the bullpen.
Spiers gave up a home run to Jorge Soler with two outs in the fourth, then Framer, Suter, Pagan and Diaz all gave up one hit, but no runs over the final five innings.
Not only was it Cincinnati’s fourth straight win over Atlanta, it pushed their record in series openers to 31-18, the best record in MLB. They entered the game tied with the Braves at 30-18. And it was their fifth straight home win.
“Hopefully we can string together a good couple of weeks to end the season and have our heads held high going into the off-season,” said Steer. “We know what we are capable of and when we play good clean baseball in all phases of the game, we’re really tough to beat.”