Jay Bruce and his broken bat were heroes in the Reds 2-1 walkoff win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Bruce followed Brandon Phillips single off Arquimedes Caminero with a triple into the rightfield corner to win the game in Tim Melville's first big league game.
“Caminero throws really, really hard but he didn’t throw me a lot of fastballs,” Bruce said. “Honestly, I was telling myself to think small. I didn’t need to do a whole lot. You can’t get big there because he throws so hard. With two strikes, I’m trying to make contact. He’s got really, really good stuff, a 94 mile an hour cutter, that’s really a slider and a fastball that’s 100. You have to respect that and take what he gives you and it worked out. It was a cutter/slider thing. I think he broke my bat but anytime. That’s fine with me.”
A nervous Melville walked the bases loaded then escape unscathed in his first major league inning.
“It was one of those moments. It is not a dream anymore,” Melville said. “I was nervous. It happens to the best of us. I told myself to get back to the game plan, throw strike one. Devin (Mesoraco) and Mark (pitching coach Riggins) helped me relax.”
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Pirate catcher Chris Stewart made his first appearance of the season and homered in his first at-bat against Melville.
Eugenio Suarez continued his hot hitting blasting a pitch from Jeff Locke into the rightfield seats.
Suarez hit his fourth home run of the season, driving the
ball to right-field. He had three hits
in four at-bats, improving his batting average to .434. and driven in nine
runs.
“The thing I’m admiring, number one he’s driving the ball
that way (to rightfield). The pitches he’s laying off,” Price said.. Have you noticed how good the quality of his
at-bats are? There are not a lot big
free swings on balls outside the (strike) zone. If you make a good pitch in
there in tight to him, he’s going to let it pass. He’s not going to try to
force the action. When a batter is
really feeling good, they allow a good pitch to present itself to hit and not
chase a ball out of the strike zone.”
The game was tied when Adam Duvall threw Princeton High School graduate, Josh Harrison, out at the plate.in the eighth inning to preserve the tie. The play was challenged by Pirates' manager Clint Hurdle, who charged that Reds' catcher Devin Mesoraco blocked the plate illegally. Joe West's out call was confirmed in the replay.
Melville pitched four innings and Dan Straily three to get the Reds to the back end of the bullpen. Jumbo Diaz, who benefited from Duvall's peg, pitched a scoreless inning. Ross Ohlendorf allowed two runners but his scoreless ninth earned the win.
Melville admitted to nerves in the excitement of his Major League debut.
“It was one of those moments. It is not a dream anymore,”
Melville said. “I was nervous. It happens to the best of us. I told myself to get back to the game plan,
throw strike one. Devin (Mesoraco) and Mark (pitching coach Riggins) helped me
relax.”
Manager Bryan Price recalled another debut that started the
same way.
“Remember Mike Leake walked the bases loaded against the
Cubs in his debut,” Price said. “Tim was
out there getting his feet wet out there.
This kid was out there a little nervous, then he settled in and gave up
one run in four innings.”
Bruce came into the game 5-for-5 with runners in scoring
position but flied out to right with Mesoraco on second in the sixth inning
before driving in his ninth run, tying Suarez with his second hit of the game.
It brings his season average to .391.
“It seems like he’s liberated. He’s really enjoying it,”
Price said. “I couldn’t be happier for
him. It was a long two years. It was a hard two years for all of us with the
win-loss but certainly not for anyone more so than Jay because he was trying to
do so much to help the club.”
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