Cincinnati Reds: Don’t lose sight of José Iglesias’ heroics in walk-off win

The Cincinnati Reds won in walk-off style last night, as Yasiel Puig crossed the plate on a bizarre turn of events. But, don’t lose sight of José Iglesias’ heroics.

The Cincinnati Reds won in dramatic fashion last night, as Yasiel Puig hustled around the base paths and a defensive gaffe on the part of the Milwaukee Brewers led to to a 5-4 walk-off victory. While Puig certainly deserves a lot of credit for his heads-up base running, don’t discount the tireless effort at the plate of José Iglesias.

Iglesias has come up with clutch hits all season long, and while I wouldn’t call what transpired last night a clutch hit, it got the job done. With Puig on first base and Iglesias at the dish, the Reds’ shortstop scalded a bouncing ball up the first base line into right field that advanced the runner to third base.

A lazy toss into the infield by last year’s MVP Christian Yelich, aided by the poor fielding of first baseman Eric Thames, gave Puig enough of a window to make a sprint for home plate. The slugger slid across the dish, tossed his helmet, and was embraced by Jesse Winker and the rest of his teammates as the Redlegs celebrated a much-needed victory.

https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1146246228860133377

Puig definitely deserves a lot of credit for his hustle and intelligent base running, but Iglesias’ battle at the plate was quickly forgotten after the victory. With the hard-throwing Corbin Burnes on the mound, Iglesias had to fight off pitch after pitch until finding the right one to slap down the line.

Iglesias fell behind in the count after taking a 97-MPH fastball for a called strike. He fouled off the next pitch, and with the game-winning run on first base, Iglesias was going to have to battle to keep the Reds’ hope alive. He did just that, slicing back-to-back sliders foul to help keep the inning alive.

Burnes, the Brewers’ right-handed reliever, seemed a bit distracted by Puig over at first base. The enigmatic Cincinnati Reds’ right fielder has shown a propensity to steal bases this season, and being that he was the winning-run, Burnes had every reason to keep Puig at bay.

While José Iglesias has done the majority of his clutch-hitting with runners in scoring position, last night’s win was a bit different. On the season, Iglesias is hitting .321 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. Though it will officially go down as an E9 on Yelich, Reds fans know that Iglesias came up with another clutch base knock.

Iglesias and Puig provided fireworks a couple days early, as the Fourth of July holiday is just around the corner. A lot of Reds Country is clamoring for Cincinnati’s front office to sign both Iglesias and Puig to long-term extensions, and I’m starting to agree with them.