Revere Commemorates Boston Marathon Victims In His Own Way
CINCINNATI (AP) — President Barack Obama's comments about the bombings at the Boston Marathon were streamed live on the video board at Great American Ball Park while the Philadelphia Phillies were taking batting practice.
Center fielder Ben Revere decided to commemorate the victims in his own way.
Revere put a taped reminder on the back of his glove and made two sensational catches with it on Monday night, keeping the Phillies' Cliff Lee and Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo locked in a scoreless tie. The Reds finally pulled away on Brandon Phillips' bases-loaded single in the eighth inning for a 4-2 victory.
Revere stuck a strip of white athletic tape to the back of the web on his glove. He wrote in black marker: "PRAY for Boston." Revere made a sensational diving catch at the edge of the warning track in the second inning, then ran into the wall for another catch in the third.
"I think everyone was thinking about it," Revere said about the tragedy in Boston. "It hurts to see something like that happen."
Revere's plays — especially his diving, over-the-shoulder catch of Todd Frazier's fly ball to the warning track — will be replayed in the coming days. Maybe then he'll get to see it.
"I haven't seen it yet," he said. "I'll probably see it tomorrow or maybe tonight yet."
The tribute to victims in Boston came on Jackie Robinson Day, baseball's annual tribute to the Hall of Famer for breaking the sport's color barrier in 1947. Major leaguers wore his No. 42. In Cincinnati, a player named Robinson also scored the go-ahead run.
Reds rookie Derrick Robinson started the winning rally in the eighth with an infield single off Jeremy Horst (0-1). He eventually scored the first of the two runs on Phillips' hit, a player named Robinson crossing home plate wearing his number.
"I told him, 'That's Jackie Robinson stuff. It's apropos that you won it with your legs,'" Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said.
The game quickly turned into an old-fashioned pitching matchup — Lee and Arroyo throwing a lot of strikes and giving few scoring chances until the late innings. The Reds took advantage and ended a five-game losing streak.
The Reds haven't been hitting much — still didn't against Lee, who helped them by letting in a run on a wild pitch in the seventh. Frazier followed with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.
Arroyo (2-1) gave up pinch-hitter Chase Utley's two-run homer in the eighth, but Cincinnati rallied against the Philadelphia bullpen. The Reds loaded the bases against Horst on Robinson's infield single, Zack Cozart's double and an intentional walk to Joey Votto. Phillips singled off Mike Adams to break the tie.
Aroldis Chapman retired all three batters he faced in the ninth for his third save in three tries. He threw 100 mph fastballs to Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard while fanning them to end it.
Neither team did much until Lee briefly lost his touch. Votto led off the seventh with a single and Phillips doubled on a two-strike pitch, giving the Reds their first runners in scoring position.
That has been their weakness. Cincinnati was 5 for 41 with runners in scoring position during the five-game slide.
This time, Lee helped them out. He bounced a 2-2 pitch to Jay Bruce, allowing Votto to score from third. Lee then walked Bruce on a full count, ending the left-hander's streak of 169 consecutive batters without giving up a walk, according to STATS. Frazier followed with a sacrifice fly.
Utley's fifth career pinch-hit homer off Arroyo tied it with two outs in the eighth. It was Philadelphia's third pinch-hit homer this season. Arroyo gave up five hits and didn't walk a batter in eight innings.
The late rally was a relief for the Reds, who placed 19-game winner Johnny Cueto on the 15-day disabled list before the game because of a strained muscle in his back, the third significant injury for Cincinnati in the season's opening weeks. Setup man Sean Marshall and cleanup hitter Ryan Ludwick also are sidelined by injuries.
Despite the loss, Lee extended his streak to 20 straight starts with at least six innings and no more than one walk, a modern major league record.
"That's baseball," Lee said. "It happens. You've got to give Arroyo a lot of credit. He kept throwing breaking balls in there for strikes all day."
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