When Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jesse Winker missed four games last week with a “rough” case of the flu, he said he was a believer in the power of homemade chicken noodle soup.
The chicken noodle soup worked –– Winker returned to the lineup on Friday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and it only took him one swing for him to keep the team’s success rolling. Winker opened the game with a double and added an RBI single as the Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 on Friday night.
“I believe sunlight and chicken noodle soup can solve a lot of problems, so I was lucky for that, thankful for that,” Winker said before the game. “I ate a lot of that.”
Just five days ago, Winker said he struggled getting off the couch.
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After he left Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Winker spent three days laying down, waiting to rejoin his teammates. His mother left behind a pot of homemade soup, which helped Winker progress.
“I was really pumping fluids and trying to get as much food as I could in me early on,” Winker said. “I didn’t really have a lot of energy, so I was really just laying there, and that’s pretty much it.”
Winker said he was feeling better by Tuesday. He returned to Great American Ball Park on Tuesday, but he ramped up to performing baseball activities on Wednesday. On Cincinnati’s off day on Thursday, Winker said he woke up feeling great, and he was back in his usual lead-off spot against the Diamondbacks on Friday.
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While he was away from the team, Winker missed participating in one of the Reds best hitting stretches to begin a season in club history. Four of the Reds five consecutive wins came without Winker, who was the team’s best statistical hitter in 2020.
“Selfishly you want to play in every game, but watching from home, watching everybody do their thing and win ball games and hit homers and drive in runs, it was incredible to watch everyone do it,” Winker said.
Now, Winker adds to a Reds lineup that had already taken a significant step forward in 2021.
On Opening Day, Winker created Cincinnati’s first run of the season by doubling in the first inning and scoring on a wild pitch. During spring training, Winker showed signs of his improvement as a power hitter, especially against left-handed pitching.
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Batting lead-off on Friday night, Winker showed why manager David Bell called Winker one of the Reds best hitters.
In the first at-bat of the game, Winker hit a line drive to right-center field that appeared to hit a chair propped up behind the outfield wall. The hit was ruled a double on the field, and that call stood after replay review.
“Once it goes to replay, it’s out of the hands on the umpire on the field,” Bell said. “I know you’re not allowed to argue that, and I’m guessing they had a different view than what we saw.”
Winker laughed when the umpire declared the ball a double, but he drove in a run on his next at-bat with an RBI single to left field in the third inning.
Bell said Winker can hit anywhere in the order but bats leadoff because he can consistently get on base in a lineup with multiple power hitters. Even though outfielder Tyler Naquin hit .313 out of the leadoff spot in Winker’s absence, Naquin moved to fifth in the lineup as soon as Winker returned.
Winker finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate before he left in the sixth inning with calf cramps, but Bell said Winker was doing fine after the game.
“Just the heat and being his first game back, we wanted to play it cautiously there,” Bell said. “But a great game in his first game back.”
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