Cincinnati Reds: Top five home runs in team history

4.  Jay Bruce sends the Reds to the playoffs

Fifteen long years of frustration were vanquished with one swing of the bat. After capturing the National League Central in 1995, the Cincinnati Reds went through one of their most futile stretches in franchise history.

Producing just two winning seasons in 15 years, the 2010 Reds entered the season with nine consecutive losing campaigns staring them in the face. Blessed with a young exciting core of players like Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, the club also featured veterans such as Scott Rolen and Bronson Arroyo who knew what winning teams looked like.

However, it would be the player that many in the Cincinnati Reds organization had pinned their hopes on since being drafted in the first round of the 2005 MLB Draft that would provide the decisive blow.

Since his highly anticipated debut in 2008, many in Reds Country were prepared to anoint Jay Bruce as the next Reds superstar. While Bruce had an outstanding 2010 season and career as a member of the Reds, it was Joey Votto who would the earn accolades many thought would be  Bruce’s birthright.

Nonetheless, to this point in his career, Joey Votto has never had an at-bat more memorable than Jay Bruce’s trip to the plate in the ninth inning of a tie game against the Houston Astros on September 28, 2010.

With the Reds needing one victory to secure their first division title and playoff appearance in 15 years, Jay Bruce sent the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning from Astros left-hander Tim Brydek over the center field wall in front of a raucous crowd to send the Reds to the postseason.  And with one swing of the bat, Jay Bruce exorcised a decade worth of demons among the Reds faithful.