Atlanta Braves 10th anniversary of Brooks Conrad game
An Atlanta Braves game with a terrible start finished with something to be remembered on this date 10 years ago.
It was an Atlanta Braves event that was unusual for lots of reasons. A Thursday game with a 1pm start. A second inning that never seemed to end. A good team (the Reds) that came totally unglued.
In retrospect, you would not have imagined that this ending could have happened back in 2010. The Cincinnati Reds won the NL Central title by 5 games over the Cardinals with a 91-71 record.
Oddly enough, the Braves also managed a 91-71 finish, but that was only good enough for a 2nd place finish behind the Phillies (who won by 6 games). The NL East just wasn’t that good in 2010 – nobody else broke .500.
This was Bobby Cox‘s last season in the dugout. The season that ended with the World Series Champion Giants ousting the Braves (in part) when Buster Posey was ruled safe.
But back on May 20, the Braves were only a .500 team… 20-20. They had been fighting since the end of April to recover from a 9-game losing streak that had put them 8-14.
After that skid, though, Atlanta found themselves in the midst of a run that would take them 24-8 through June 3rd, which eventually propelled them to the playoffs.
For quite a while on this day, May 20, it was looking like “one of those days” against the 23-17 Reds.
Tommy Hanson simply couldn’t get out of the second inning. Things just kept happening.
A Cincy single opened the frame, but after a strikeout and a lazy popout to second base, the Reds still had that runner on first with 2 outs. No problem, right?
Well… that’s when somebody flipped a switch in the visitors dugout.
- Single
- Walk (bases loaded)
- Single. 1 run scores.
- Homer. Grand slam.
- Clean bases didn’t kill the rally… Single
- Walk
- Single, scoring Brandon Phillips
- Double, scoring 2 more
Cox finally had to get Hanson out of the game even though he’d been 1 pitch away from an inning-ender… for 32 straight pitches (42 total in the inning).
Jesse Chavez entered, threw a single pitch, and got a popout in foul ground to put out the fire. Figures.
But the damage was done – 8 runs and an 8-zip lead for the Reds.
Atlanta didn’t exactly fight back
The Braves managed to push across a run in their half of the third thanks to an error from the sure-handed Reds (they finished the year with the 3rd-best fielding percentage in baseball… remember that for later).
In the 5th, another error brought home 2 more runs – with Jason Heyward being the batting beneficiary on both occasions.
Still… a Cincy homer in that inning made the score 9-3 and at this point, both teams were probably thinking about their dinner plans more than the game.
In fact, innings 6-to-the-top-of-the-9th looked entirely routine. Nobody reached base in the 6th; 2 runners for the Reds in the 7th, but a strikeout ended that 2-out threat. The only other runners (in the Reds 8th and 9th) were erased on double plays.
The Rally Begins
Bottom of the 9th. Mike Lincoln was brought in to mop up. Lincoln had a 9 season MLB career, though this was his last rodeo. But this was his role – eat an inning.
As things unfolded, though, he ended up with that dreaded note in the box score “faced 4 batters in 9th” because he didn’t get anybody out.
- Troy Glaus – Single
- Eric Hinske – Single
- Yunel Escobar – Single
Okay, yeah – the bases are loaded with nobody out. The remaining fans are stirring a bit, but … come on, it’s still a 9-3 deficit here.
- Nate McLouth – Single.
The 2 slowest non-catchers on the field scored. Okay, so now it’s 9-5 and Mr. Lincoln is excused from further action.
Nick Masset comes in to quell the uprising. He actually finished his career with the Atlanta Braves in 2015, throwing 15 relatively forgettable innings (6.46 ERA). In 2010, though, he pitched in the mid 3’s as a reliable member of the Reds pen.
Not this day. Kinda.
Atlanta Braves’ epic comeback
The parade continues…
- David Ross. Grandpa. Walk. Bases are re-loaded.
- Martin Prado. E5. Remember that slick-fielding Reds team? Not today. 4 errors on the scorecard. Everybody’s safe and another run scores.
So now it’s 9-6 and things are getting interesting. There’s still nobody out. Bases are loaded. The “potential winning run” is about to come up, and it’s Jason Heyward.
The Reds’ bullpen is now on high alert and Arthur Rhodes comes in. Lefty-lefty matchup against a well-seasoned veteran in the 19th of his 20 years in the majors.
Rhodes still had a lot left in his tank: 2.29 ERA in 2010 over 55 innings.
Heyward worked him well, but struck out after six pitches.
Okay… still have the bases loaded, but now there’s 1 out and as we’ve nearly batted around, it’s… Craig Kimbrel‘s turn to… hit? Nope.
That brings a pair of additional changes as this game slows to a crawl. The Reds bring in the closer – Francisco Cordero. He saved forty games in 2010 (329 in his career), and this game needed saving.
Even at this point, the stat-heads who calculate such things had a Cincinnati victory listed as an 80% probability. And why not? The Atlanta Braves still needed 3 runs to even tie the game and here’s a guy on the mound who’d given up only 2 jacks over the entire last season.
Bobby Cox countered with Brooks Conrad. Another lefty hitter against the right-handed Cordero.
Let’s face it: Conrad was pretty much a ‘Quad-A’ player. He eked out 6 seasons in the majors, but never played in more than 103 games – never with more than 177 plate appearances in any season, and never hitting better than .250.
As it turns out, this was the year that all of those stats happened… including his career-high 8 homers and 33 RBI.
Conrad treated this AB like the World Series was on the line. Cordero threw him 6 pitches.
Pitch number 6 was belt-high, but moving toward the outer edge of the plate. Conrad seemed to be trying to protect the plate a bit, but still got a decent swing on the ball… obviously.
He hit it to the opposite field in the air. It carried pretty well. It kept carrying. And then it happened.
https://twitter.com/FOXSportsBraves/status/1263095486522757122
Conrad thought he was out thanks to a brilliant catch near the top of the wall. He was probably about to grab his helmet and slam it to the ground for having just missed his pitch.
Then he couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about in the stands. Or the dugout.
Instead, the ball, wall, and glove all arrived at the same moment. Outfielder Laynce Nix — who had been the Reds hitting hero that day — couldn’t squeeze that glove closed at the right instant.
The ball bounced out of his glove and trickled over the wall. Conrad raced around the bases like a … well, like a fast catcher.
Grand slam. Game over. Walk off. Braves score 7 in the frame to win a whacky and improbable game 10-9.
dark. Next. Take another listen to Leo!
This is now the “Brooks Conrad game” forever. And even if that’s the only thing we really remember about his career… I think he’d be good with that. Ten years ago today.