Devin Mesoraco took a beating on Monday. He took a foul tip off the mask, was hit by a backswing, and was twice plunked by a pitch.
It was worth it.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, Mesoraco cranked a Hector Rondon pitch into the basket in left-center for his third career grand slam, lifting the Reds to a 6-1 victory at Wrigley Field. Mesoraco has now homered in four straight games, becoming the first Reds player to do so since Jay Bruce from June 19-22, 2013.
“I don’t know what other people are saying about him. If they’re not talking about it and seeing it, I think they’re missing the boat on something, in many different ways,” manager Bryan Price said. “If people aren’t aware of Devin Mesoraco, I’m pretty sure that by the time we get into the late summer that they will be.
“That’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever been around.”
Another blossoming Reds player, Billy Hamilton, broke a 1-1 tie earlier in the inning to help set up Mesoraco’s blast.
Chris Heisey snapped an 0-for-16 skid with a bloop single to right, stole second, and scored on Hamilton’s RBI single up the middle. Hamilton’s grinding at-bat was talked about as much as Mesoraco’s blast. He went ahead in the count, 2-0, took two borderline strikes low in the zone and fouled off a couple pitches before delivering the game-winning hit.
“It was a great at-bat,” Hamilton said. “It was one of those where I knew I wanted Heisey to get into scoring position. I wanted him to steal. I don’t know if he had the green light or not, but that was great, and I was gonna take it until he went, until he got into scoring position.
“It’s just a grind. Their guy made some really good pitches. I had to battle through it, and it came out good for us.”
After Hamilton’s hit, Todd Frazier singled and Joey Votto walked to set up Mesoraco’s dramatic blast.
“It’s amazing. I knew something was going to happen,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be a home run, but I felt like something good was going to happen. Devin’s going great, best that I’ve seen him ever. First time in the big leagues, but I’ve seen him in the Minor Leagues before. He’s just on fire right now. It’s good for us to have him on our team.”
“We tried to let [Rondon] work his way through it, and obviously, it didn’t work out,” Cubs manager Rick Renteria said.
The heroics of Hamilton and Mesoraco overshadowed Alfredo Simon, who delivered yet another strong outing. He allowed just one earned run in seven innings, his only blemish coming on Anthony Rizzo’s game-tying home run in the sixth.
Simon lowered his ERA to 2.92, striking out five while walking one. This, from a pitcher who started the season as an injury fill-in for Mat Latos, and who is in his first season as a full-time starter.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
