The moves worked. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 on Opening Day at Great American Ball Park by leaving the bases loaded in the final inning.
Iglesias left the game with one out, having walked two batters. Garrett struck out Adam Frazier. Hernandez walked Pablo Reyes to load the bases but then got Corey Dickerson, who homered against Iglesias in the eighth, to ground out to second for the final out, ending a tense 12-pitch at-bat that included seven foul balls.
“At that point, it’s a little bit of relief,” Bell said. “David battled and battled and battled. What an incredible at-bat.”
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Iglesias appeared in 66 games last season. Sixteen of them lasted more than one inning. He may get many more such opportunities with Bell making the calls.
“In the ninth, Iglesias is going to be in those opportunities,” Bell said. “He’s going to finish a lot of those games. It’s a lot to ask: pitching two innings to finish a game. We believe he can do that. In this particular case, we had Amir ready to face the left-hander, and we had David ready to face the pinch hitter. They both did their job, and that was really the key.”
Big moment: Derek Dietrich was just as excited in the postgame press conference Thursday as he was earlier after his three-run, tie-breaking home run in the seventh inning helped the Reds beat the Pirates 5-3 on Opening Day.
Of his curtain call, Dietrich said, “I was taking it all in with the guys. They’re saying, ‘Get up there! Get up there!’ For me to expect something like that on my first day with a new organization in this city … I don’t think I could have written it up any better.”
As he rounded the bases, shouting with glee and pumping his arms in excitement, Dietrich said he was thinking, “Thank you, Lord. Thanks for the opportunity. I couldn’t wait to get to the dugout. Anyone who knows me and has played with me against me knows I play with a lot of energy. I’m blessed to be here. I’m right where I want to be, right where I’m supposed to be with the Cincinnati Reds.”
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