Brandon Phillips took over the game in the seventh inning in the Reds' 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Milwaukee Brewers had runners on first and second with the dangerous Ryan Braun facing Sam LeCure with a full count.
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Phillips pestered Norichika Aoki, the runner on second. Braun hit a two-hop ground ball up the middle. Phillips fielded the ball with his right knee on second base and threw quickly to first, where Joey Votto scooped the throw to complete the inning-ending double play.
Phillips wasn't finished.
One out into the bottom of the inning, the man who calls himself DatDude launched his sixth home run to give his team a 4-2 lead. Combined with the two-out RBI single in the third inning, it gave the Reds' secondbaseman the National League lead in RBI with 31.
"Brandon's the best I've seen at that position," Dusty Baker said. "He works at it. That was the best double play I've ever seen turned from secondbase."
"I work on taking short hops bare-handed but not with the bag in the way," Phillips said. "I took a gamble on making the throw. I've touched the bag with my knee several times but not while taking a short hop."
While he took over the lead in RBI, Phillips was upset that he struck out with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth.
"I'm still pissed off that I struck out in that inning," Phillips said. "I wanted to get at least one run out of that. It feels good to know I'm leading the league (in RBI) but I don't really look at that. My goal is to drive in 100 runs but we needed that run in the eighth."
"We're leaving a lot of guys out there at the end of the game. We were hoping to get at least one run there," Baker said. "These Brewers can score in a hurry.
Both starting pitchers, Yovanni Gallardo for Milwaukee and Tony Cingrani, were long gone. Neither pitched past the fourth inning.
The Reds put up two runs against Gallardo. Shin-Soo Choo walked, then stole secondbase. Phillps drilled a single as Choo chugged home. Jay Bruce smoked an offering by Gallardo on a line over the head of the rightfielder, Aoki. The fielder managed to get the tip of his glove on it but the ball fell for a double that scored Phillips.
Cingrani had little trouble with the Brewers for three innings. However, Jean Segura opened the fourth with a home run that bounced off the top of the rightfield wall. Braun followed with a blast on the next pitch that traveled 418 feet to tie the game.
"Cingrani pitched well until the second time around (the Brewers' batting order)," Baker said. "His pitch count got up there. You see how fast the Brewers can score. We scratch to get two runs and just like that, they tie the game. We were hoping those home runs weren't going to come back to haunt us."
Donald Lutz pinch hit for Cingrani and singled in his fifth straight game. The big German citizen stole secondbase, his second of the year and scored on a single by Zack Cozart.
Afredo Simon, Sam LeCure and Jonathan Broxton kept the Brewers away from the plate until the Reds unleashed the Cuban Missile, Aroldis Chapman, in the ninth.
Derrick Robinson made a nice running catch in leftfield to retire Yuniesky Betancourt. Pinch hitter Jeff Bianchi flied to left. Aoki reached base for the fifth time in the game with a single to center. Aoki singled three times and walked twice. Segura became the potential tying run. Aoki took second on defensive indiference, third on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch, but Segura struck out to end the game.
It was Chapman's eighth save.
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