MILWAUKEE –– Before the Cincinnati Reds played the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday, third baseman Eugenio Suárez was discussing the positive impact of Reds manager David Bell.
Suárez mentioned how Bell helped every player on the team, and then turned his focus to how Bell helped him personally. Suárez started by saying, “When I was struggling…”
He didn't tonight. On Saturday at American Family Field, Suárez hit a go-ahead homer off Brewers All-Star closer Josh Hader in the ninth inning, which gave the Reds a 4-3 win.
For most of the last two months, Suárez has had one of the five lowest batting averages in the National League. Suárez entered the game hitting .176 with 107 strikeouts, the fourth most in MLB.
But recently, Suárez feels like he has turned a corner. After a cooking incident at a barbecue at home, Suárez began hitting with one finger off the bat. That helped him relax his hands, and Suárez went on a recent six-game hitting streak.
His home run off Hader was Suárez’s biggest hit of the season. Facing Hader, who had only allowed one home run all season and had a .078 ERA, Suárez drove the third pitch opposite field for a solo home run.
Suárez picked the Reds up after they lost the lead in the eighth inning.
Reliever Brad Brach entered the game in the eighth inning with the Reds leading 3-1. After Brach walked Brewers third baseman Luis Urias, he faced outfielder Tyrone Taylor. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Taylor crushed a 390-foot homer to center field that tied the game at 3.
Following that home run, a lead that the Reds built behind six standout innings by Reds starter Vladimir Gutierrez and a three-run home run by Nick Castellanos had disappeared.
But Suárez gave the Reds the lead. And the home run came in a playoff-like atmosphere, silencing the Brewers crowd. Reliever Heath Hembree got the save in the ninth inning, bringing the Reds five games back in the division.
With Saturday’s win, the Reds clinched at least a split of the four-game series in Milwaukee.
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