*Photo from the Dayton Daily News*
There's always a chance you could see something unique and/or bizarre when you go to the ballpark to take in a baseball game. Brandon Drury homered, Mark Kolozsvary scored the game winning run, and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Tampa Bay Rays with a 2-1 victory in 10 innings on Friday night in Cincinnati.
It was a walk off victory for the Reds, but this was no ordinary walk off. With Kolozsvary on 3rd base in the 10th inning, Rays pitcher Matt Wisler was called for a balk. A balk advances all baserunners one base, which brought Kolozsvary home and gave the Reds a pretty bizarre ending to an extra innings victory.
Cincinnati manager David Bell said that "I didn’t see the balk at all, but we’ll take it. I’d rather think about getting to that point. So many good things happened. We played a great game to be able to be in the position to win it."
When a team playing as poorly as Cincinnati is this season gets a win on a bizarre play, it's pretty big because you have to get wins any way necessary. It's just the Reds 4th win in their last 10 games, but it is two wins in a row for the Reds, starting this weekend series off right.
The Rays got the scoring started in the top of the 3rd inning. It was Ji-Man Choi who delivered, singling into center field, bringing home Yandy Diaz to make it a 1-0 game. It didn't take long for the Reds to answer, with Brandon Drury hitting a solo home run to center field, tying the game up at a 1-1 score.
The game stayed at a 1-1 deadlock for the rest of what could be considered regulation time, with the game moving into the 10th inning tied. After the Rays could not score in the top half of the inning, the balk call came with Tyler Naquin at bat, scoring Kolozsvary and giving the Reds the win.
Kolozsvary said of the balk call that "I have no idea. I was kind of focused on other things. I’m going to say he did though. The umpire called it. It was a really good feeling, obviously, getting to celebrate with all the guys and coming into the dugout there was really cool."
Getting the start for the Reds was Luis Castillo, who kept his streak of strong starts going. Castillo allowed one run on 4 hits and one walk, striking out 8 hitters across 7 innings pitched, getting a no decision. Alexis Diaz and Hunter Strickland pitched scoreless innings, and Joel Kuhnel got the win in the 10th inning.
For the Rays, Shane McClanahan had a strong start, allowing one run on 3 hits, striking out 8 hitters in 6 innings of work. Colin Poche, Ryan Thompson, and Jason Adam pitched scoreless innings, with Wisler getting the loss in the 10th on the balk.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said of McClanahan's start that "McClanahan was awesome. Two really good starting pitchers throwing, going toe-to-toe. Shane got burnt on a 3-0 pitch by Drury, who’s had a big year to date, and we were able to get one on a big RBI by Ji-Man, but other than that you can understand why there wasn't a ton of scoring or hitting. Both pitchers had pretty electric stuff."
Up next, the Reds and Rays continue their series on Saturday afternoon. Flamethrower Hunter Greene gets the start for the Reds, while Drew Rasmussen starts for the Rays.
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