Brandon Phillips wanted the big hit for the Reds against the Phillies for a few reasons on Monday night. First and foremost, his team had a five-game losing streak it needed to snap. And with the No. 42 on his back to honor Jackie Robinson, the legend occupied Phillips’ mind as well.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Phillips came through with a tie-breaking two-run single that gave the Reds a 4-2 win.
“For me to a get a game-winning hit also on this day, it gets no better than that,” Phillips said.
Against Phillies lefty reliever Jeremy Horst, Derrick Robinson was pinch-hitting for Bronson Arroyo and tapped the ball to left of the mound for an infield single. Following a Shin-Soo Choo sacrifice bunt, Zack Cozart blooped a double out of the grasp of right fielder Laynce Nix’s sliding-catch attempt. An intentional walk to Joey Votto loaded the bases.
“I told Brandon, ‘You’re going to win the game,'” Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
Facing righty Mike Adams, Phillips hit a 1-2 pitch on the ground to the right side through lunging second baseman Freddy Galvis, plating two runs and breaking the 2-2 tie.
“He kept the ball up a little bit,” Phillips said. “He threw some great pitches. I just went with the pitch and took what he gave me. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. I’m just glad we won today, especially on Jackie Robinson Day.”
Fittingly, it was Robinson — also wearing No. 42 like every player in baseball on this day — who scored the go-ahead run, followed by Cozart. In 1997, under the direction of Commissioner Bud Selig, Robinson’s No. 42 was retired across all of Major League Baseball in an unprecedented tribute.
“That was apropos — that he won it with his legs and scored the winning run,” Baker said of Robinson. “That was big. I don’t know many Robinsons that play baseball.”
The flurry of six runs scored over the seventh and eighth innings dusted over a brilliant pitchers’ duel between Arroyo and Phillies lefty Cliff Lee. The two pitchers briskly exchanged zeros for the first six innings. Arroyo had only 69 pitches to that point, and Lee had 67.
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