Even before Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto walked into the batter’s box in the seventh inning on Monday night, the crowd at Great American Ball Park had a feeling he was going to make history.
In the Reds 14-5 win over the Chicago Cubs, Votto entered the seventh inning with 1,999 hits. When Votto stepped up to the plate, most of the Reds fans in the crowd were already on their feet.
Votto hit a line drive single into center field. He became the fifth player in franchise history to get 2,000 hits, joining Pete Rose, Barry Larkin, Dave Concepcion and Johnny Bench.
The crowd of 15,404 fans had to wait for Votto’s milestone during his nearly perfect nine pitch at-bat.
Votto was taking his second career at-bat against Cubs reliever Michael Rucker. He watched Rucker place two curveballs on the outside corner of the strike zone and fell behind 0-2 in the count.
On the next pitch, Votto fouled off a cutter in the dirt. Votto timed the pitch well, and Rucker called time. When he stepped off the mound, the Reds fans on their feet switched their cheers for Votto into boos for Rucker.
Rucker came back with a cutter, and Votto fouled it off his foot. Then Votto fouled a slider off the back screen. Six pitches into the at-bat, Rucker threw his first ball, a high fastball. Rucker then threw two more high fastballs, and Votto made it a full count.
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