CINCINNATI – After Phil Gosselin’s pinch-hit single on a 100-mph fastball from formidable Reds closer Aroldis Chapman with one out in a 1-1 game Monday, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez thought about pinch-running for him with the faster Eric Young Jr.
Minutes later, Gonzalez was glad he didn’t.
Gosselin went to second when Nick Markakis followed him with a groundball single up the middle, then made what might have been the play of the game by stealing third base on the second pitch that Chapman threw to Andrelton Simmons, a slider in the dirt. It was only the fourth stolen base in 66 major league games for Gosselin, who had been caught in two of his prevous five attempts.
After Simmons struck out, Gosselin scored when Chapman threw an outside pitch that glanced off catcher Tucker Barnhart’s mitt. The Braves had a 2-1 lead, which reliever Jim Johnson made stand by limiting the Reds to a one-out single in the ninth inning, striking out Jay Bruce and getting groundout to end the game for Johnson’s second save.
“You trust him,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Tuesday, when asked about Gosselin’s work the night before. “He gets on first base and I’ve got EY standing next to me. And I’m going, I could put EY in here and Chapman’s going to have to pay attention to EY, (potentially) stealing the base. And Markakis goes base hit and I’m going, now I could really put pressure on him and put EY at second base. But I don’t.”
The Braves had timed Chapman’s slow delivery at 1.7 or 1.8 seconds to the plate. Plenty of time for a good base-stealer to advance. Or for Gosselin, if he got a good jump.
“Chapman’s cranking big numbers (slow times to the plate) so I said, OK, we’re going to give him the green light,” Gonzalez said. “You trust him that he’s going to get a good jump. And (Gosselin) did, he picked a breaking ball, slider I think in the dirt, and all of a sudden he steals, we end up winning the game. But you trust him in those situations that he’s going to do the right thing.”
Gosselin took the first two pitches he saw from Chapman, sliders that left him in a 1-1 count and waiting for the pitch he could hit. He swung at the next one, a triple-digit fastball, and hit it on the ground up the middle for a single.
“Keep it short, see something down in the zone and just try to put it in play,” he said of his approach. “You can’t try to do too much because if you try to swing hard it’s going to be by you.”
After advancing to second on Markakis’ hit, Gosselin said he was already thinking steal before he got the green light.
“First pitch (to Simmons) was pretty slow (delivery),” Gosselin said, “so I said to myself if he’s slow again, I’m going to try to take a shot here and go for it. I got a good jump. Almost fell halfway there, but fortunately stayed on my feet and got in there.”
The night belonged to Shelby Miller, who pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, and to Simmons, who tied the score with his fourth-inning leadoff homer. But there was also a major contribution from the guy who didn’t enter the game until the ninth inning, when he had the task of coming off the bench to hit against a 6-foot-4 closer who throws gas, routinely hitting 102 mph on the radar gun.
“He’s a good little player, man,” Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “That’s a perfect swing for Chapman. You can’t get big (with your swing) off him; he throws 100. Up the middle. He did it, and obviously Markakis with the hit, and stealing third – it was a good baseball inning.”
