It took 19 innings before the Cincinnati Reds scored a run against the Chicago White Sox this week, but that was enough for a walk-off win.
After an old-school pitchers' duel between Sonny Gray and Dallas Keuchel on Wednesday, Jesse Winker provided the only offense that the Reds needed when he lined a walk-off single to center for a 1-0 victory in the bottom of the 10th inning.
As soon as Winker saw the ball fly through the infield, he flipped his bat. Nick Senzel, the runner on first base, raised his arms triumphantly in the air. Winker's teammates met him after he ran across first base to celebrate. The crowd of 10,247 roared with approval.
"You want to be up there in that moment, for sure,” Winker said.
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It was the first time in 11 years, and just the fourth time in Great American Ball Park history, the Reds played a home game that was scoreless after nine innings. Gray was phenomenal – and he knew he needed to pitch at that level against Keuchel. Both pitchers threw seven scoreless frames.
Gray briefly chatted with Keuchel on Tuesday. The two veteran pitchers faced each other often when Gray was in Oakland and Kuechel was in Houston. From the conversation, Gray could tell Keuchel was "ready to roll."
"I just wanted to do my part," Gray said. "Show up and do what I can do to win this game. That was all my mind was on, just win this game. I don’t care what it takes or what you’ve got to do."
Gray was good in his last start against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He put his back injury behind him and he fanned 11 batters in 5 2/3 innings, one shy of his career-high.
On Wednesday, he was even better.
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Gray permitted five baserunners across his seven innings: two singles, two walks and one hit batter. He struck out eight and kept hitters off-balance with a steady diet of curveballs and fastballs.
"He was sharp, really comfortable, locked in, determined to go deep into that game and hold it right there," Reds manager David Bell said of Gray. "It was a competition. He knew it was against another pitcher that was locked in and it was going to take his best effort and he gave it to us."
"Just the way he pitched last time out," Keuchel said, "I knew we were in for a doozy."
The only time Gray pitched into trouble was the second inning. He hit Andrew Vaughn in the head with an errant curveball and he admitted that it shook him up. He walked the next batter on four pitches, then missed the strike zone with two more pitches before catcher Tyler Stephenson walked to the mound for a brief chat.
After Gray had a chance to reset himself, following seven straight balls, he struck out Leury García and Billy Hamilton to end the inning.
Gray was the first Reds pitcher to pitch more than six innings since Tyler Mahle pitched 6 ⅔ scoreless innings on April 21. It was Gray's longest start since Aug. 4, 2019.
"I just know Keuchel enough," Gray said. "I knew how this was going to play out. I knew I needed to do my thing and give our guys a chance to do what they did there at the end."
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Keuchel was just as good as Gray, permitting two hits and three walks across seven innings. Once the Reds squandered an early opportunity against him, they had runners on second and third with no outs in the first inning and didn't score, he went into cruise control and needed just 19 pitches to retire the next eight batters.
The left-handed Keuchel pitched to his strengths and induced 14 ground balls. The Reds had just three balls reach the outfield against him.
The Reds also lost Joey Votto for potentially the next month. He broke his left thumb after he was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning.
"It’s one of those games that you’re just kind of clawing for that run," Winker said. "We put up some good at-bats all day. Sonny was lights out again. It was a battle. That was a good baseball game.”
The White Sox, who were held to two hits, had only one runner touch third base Wednesday: pitcher Liam Hendriks in the 10th inning after he was the automatic runner at second.
Manager Tony La Russa was unaware of a rule that would have allowed him to substitute runners at second base (the preceding out was José Abreu). Then he made a strange choice on the base paths.
After a walk and a fielder's choice, Billy Hamilton was at the plate with runners on the corners and one out. With the infield drawn in, La Russa called for García to try to steal second. The move backfired when Tucker Barnhart threw García out. Sims struck out Hamilton on the next pitch, celebrating with a yell as he hopped off the mound.
“Obviously, being able to hit last in those situations is huge," Winker said. "Getting out of it, Sims coming in and slamming the door is huge, man. It puts all the pressure on the other team. You kind of have to be perfect, you know? That was huge."
In the bottom of the 10th inning against Hendriks, Senzel singled to left field after falling into a 0-2 count. That brought up Winker with runners on the corners.
Winker fell into his own 0-2 count, then battled in an eight-pitch at-bat to earn his walk-off celebration.
"His fastball really jumps out of his hand and it went right to that top corner," Winker said. "I was just fighting, just try to keep timing him, keep timing him. I got the count to 2-2, and then 3-2, and I just wanted to be on time for a fastball and put the barrel on it.”
The Reds have a 5-2 record in extra innings this season. They've scored their automatic runner at second base in all seven games.
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