Joey Votto wasn’t afraid to admit what he was feeling. The slumping Reds first baseman wanted to come through for his team, very badly. And when he did deliver a huge two-run double for the lead in the seventh inning during Cincinnati’s 6-5 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles, Votto didn’t contain that excitement either.
For Votto, the double against lefty reliever Scott Alexander snapped an 0-for-15 stretch. The 37-year-old is batting .218/.292/.402 for the season.
“You know, it’s funny. So the generation I came up with was very, you weren’t supposed to show your emotion, or at least you’d get checked,” Votto said. “And now, this generation, it’s, ‘You should show your emotion.’ And it’s embraced, as it should be. But I’ve never really been comfortable with that, and I’ve played well in my career. I’ve just been like, ‘I’m supposed to do this,’ whether it’s a double or a homer or whatever it is, a big hit.
“And you go through a little bit of a rough patch, and I think one fed into the other, the emotion. I’m allowed to do it, I feel safe doing it, paired up with going through that rough patch. Like, I want to do well.”
In two days, the Reds snapped a seven-game losing streak and secured at least a series win -- both against the defending World Series champions and one of best teams in baseball. But Tuesday’s win was even more satisfying because of how it was achieved.
• It was a victory that required not one, but two comebacks after falling behind tough Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler.
• Once the Reds had the lead, the bullpen provided three scoreless innings of relief, but without most of the usual late-inning cast of characters. With Tejay Antone and Lucas Sims out of commission after heavy use on Monday, manager David Bell leaned on Ryan Hendrix, Carson Fulmer and Heath Hembree before Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first save since Game 1 of the 2019 World Series for the Nationals.
“The guys came through against the Dodgers, a great team and a great starting pitcher. Just a game that we got down and guys battled back,” Bell said. “Great at-bats, guys in the bullpen stepped up throughout the game. I could go up and down the lineup. Big things happened all game. Never gave up, continued to play and believe in it and really got the job done. Just a great game.”
Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead when Jesse Winker homered to center field on Buehler’s first pitch of the game, but the Reds had to stage two comebacks on the Dodgers before the evening was over.
Buehler, who struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings, had a 3-1 lead before the Reds scored two in the top of the fifth inning. Winker, who has a 12-game hitting streak, added a game-tying RBI single to right field that scored Kyle Farmer.
Then, Los Angeles had a 5-3 lead in the seventh when Tucker Barnhart led off with a double to right field. In an 0-2 count, Farmer’s RBI single to left field off Buehler brought home Barnhart.
“It was big just to fight back, honestly,” Farmer said. “Hitting is tough, especially playing here is tough. Their lineup is so solid, you have to keep fighting back whenever they score and just try to keep momentum on your side.”
With two outs against Alexander later in the seventh, Votto worked a full count. Getting a sinker, he lined a double to right field that scored two -- including Nick Castellanos with the go-ahead run.
Television cameras caught a pumped up Votto standing on second base and shouting toward his teammates and later, smiling with them in the dugout.
“It’s funny,” Votto said. “I was talking to [the Dodgers’ Matt] Beaty at first base, and I said, ‘You know what my plan was up there?’ I said, ‘To get a hit.’ And he goes, ‘That’s good. Just kind of went into compete mode.’ And I go, ‘No, no, no, no, no. I wasn’t in compete mode. I was in I have to get a hit mode, OK?’ Sometimes, we get so focused on technique, timing, what the pitcher has, being competitive.
“Sometimes you just have to get the job done. And then sometimes, you don’t get the job done. Then you have to pray. And I was coming up on prayer mode, so I’m glad I put a good barrel on the ball and we got the win. We got the win. Guys were excellent tonight.”