Cincinnati Reds blast back to back homers for walk-off victory over Nationals.
What a day in GABP!
Christian Encarnacion-Strand stepped into the batter’s box in the Bottom of the 9th having yet to record a hit so far in the nascent 2024 Major League Baseball season. That became a footnote in a millisecond, though, as that was just about the amount of time it took for the meatball hurled his way by Washington Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan to hit the seats beyond the left field wall for a Cincinnati Reds walk-off victory.
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It was the kind of resilient day from the Reds in Great American Ball Park that was almost exactly the inverse of the energy in their bullpen implosion on Saturday. Despite leaving man after man on-base (and grounding into a trio of double plays – two by CES himself – the Reds managed to battle back and win a game that, for a time, seemed like it was just destined to not go their way.
A huge portion of that turnaround came from Jonathan India, who worked his way through a 10-pitch at-bat in the Bottom of the 9th with 2-outs that resulted in a double into the LF corner, a tone-setter that brought Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game Will Benson to the plate. Benson, as he’s becoming wont to do, came through with the first of the gigantic hits for the Reds on the day, parking a 2-run tater over the CF wall off Finnegan that brought the sparse GABP crowd (on a chilly Easter day) to its feet. CES then followed by parking the second pitch he saw into the LF stands, and the improbable 6-5 comeback was theirs.
