PHOENIX – Tucker Barnhart doesn’t receive many opportunities to hit against left-handed pitching because he’s struggled against them throughout his career.
He gave up switch-hitting because he didn’t feel like standing in the right-handed batter’s box was giving him much of an advantage. As a lefty, he entered Friday with one hit and 10 strikeouts in 24 at-bats against left-handed pitchers.
The Cincinnati Reds didn’t have a choice in the 10th inning with their bench empty. Barnhart, who saw the bullpen implode with a five-run lead, had to hit with runners on the corners and two outs against Arizona Diamondbacks lefty Alex Young.
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Barnhart had his pitchers’ backs. He lined an RBI single into the left-center gap and started shouting toward his teammates as he ran up the first-base line. Amir Garrett pitched a scoreless 10th inning and the Reds escaped with a 6-5 victory to steal the show in the D-Backs’ home opener in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,385.
"I was pumped," Barnhart said. "I kind of blacked out a little bit."
Barnhart spent all offseason working on his swing. He wanted to prepare himself for these moments. He focused on an opposite-field approach, knowing teams use a defensive shift to his pull side.
He worked with a hitting coach in Indianapolis, Benny Craig, and they spoke daily about Ted Williams' three rules to hit by: No. 1, get a good ball to hit; No. 2, proper thinking; No. 3, be quick with the bat.
Young fired a 91-mph fastball on the outside edge and Barnhart went with the pitch.
"The entire shortstop position was wide open," Barnhart said. "I knew I was going to get something to hit out over the plate that way from that specific pitcher because that’s where he lives. I was just trying to get something that I could get the barrel on and either hit a hard ground ball or line drive to short."
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The Reds have won six consecutive games, matching their longest winning streak from last year. They opened the season with a 6-1 record for the first time since 1994.
They’ve scored at least six runs in every game this season and remain on a historic offensive pace. They hold the franchise record for most runs through the first seven games of the season (63), one run ahead of the 1976 Big Red Machine team.
"The intensity has been there all year," Barnhart said. "It’s felt different to me. Just the way the dugout feels, the way the clubhouse feels in a very positive way. We’re all just kind of piggybacking off one another, picking guys when they need to be picked up."
It was the bullpen's turn for a pick-me-up. The Reds had a 5-0 lead with nine outs left when things fell apart.
Cam Bedrosian gave up a run and still had two runners on base when he exited with two outs in the seventh inning. Lefty Sean Doolittle surrendered a two-run double to Kole Calhoun and avoided further damage when pinch-hitter Wyatt Mathisen lined out to end the inning.
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Lucas Sims entered with a two-run lead in the eighth inning. He walked his first batter, then surrendered a two-run homer to Eduardo Escobar, who dodged an up-and-in pitch to begin his at-bat. The crowd went berserk. Escobar pumped his right arm as he rounded first base in celebration.
Barnhart walked to the mound and put his arm around Sims' shoulders.
"We talk about being relentless; David (Bell) preaches it," Barnhart said. "That was my message to Lucas when I went out to the mound, I was like, 'hey, man, it sucks where we are right now, but these are the three biggest outs of the game. We have to have these. We need them.’"
The bullpen didn't give up another hit. Sims retired his next four batters. Cionel Pérez finished the ninth inning, which included pitcher Madison Bumgarner pinch-hitting with two outs and the game-winning run at first base while two position players were available on the bench.
In the bottom of the 10th, with a runner automatically sent to second base, Garrett stepped up. He induced a pop-up from Asdrubal Cabrera to begin the inning, a huge out because it kept the runner at second base.
After a pair of two-out walks (one intentional) to load the bases, Garrett won a left-on-left battle with D-Backs outfielder Pavin Smith to earn his second save of the season.
"A lot of the players were saying to each other after the game, 'we picked each other up all night,'" Bell said. "It’s never easy, and that’s what good teams do."
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It was one of those nights where nothing was easy. Starting pitcher Tyler Mahle had overpowering stuff, but he had trouble taming it.
Mahle pitched four no-hit innings, but he needed 92 pitches to record those 12 outs. He walked four and struck out six.
"That was, I would say, the most stressful four innings of no-hit baseball that I’ve ever called in my career," Barnhart said, laughing.
Reds starting pitchers have tossed 21 consecutive scoreless innings. The offense continued to receive contributions from all parts of the lineup. Tyler Naquin hit his MLB-leading fifth homer in the fourth inning. Jesse Winker had three hits.
Barnhart, the eighth hitter, had two doubles before his go-ahead RBI single. One of those doubles was against another left-handed pitcher, Caleb Smith.
"You know, man, I thought and I felt all along that this was in there," said Barnhart, who is hitting .444 with seven RBI and five runs. "I really have. When I made the change to just hit left-handed, I knew what kind of hitter I am left-handed."
After a roller coaster of emotions, the Reds ended Friday with the best record in MLB. Garrett, at the end of his post-game video press conference, stared into the camera and shouted.
"The Reds are hot, baby," Garrett said. "They are hot!"
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