Conrad's walk-off grand slam shocks Reds

Only after he heard what was left of the afternoon crowd at Turner Field screaming and turned to see runners circling the bases did realize he had hit the first grand slam of his career.

“I hit it and I was kind of talking to it to get out of there,” Conrad said. “I saw [Nix] jump up. From my angle, it looked like he brought it back. I put my hands on my helmet and said ‘No way he just caught that. At least we got the sac fly.’”

Instead, Conrad became the seventh different Brave to hit a game-winner in eight final at-bat victories this season, and the third in the past three games.

The Reds entered this two-game series with a majors’ best 10 final at-bat wins. The Braves moved within two of that total while sweeping the Reds and knocking them out of first place in the National League Central while they were at it.

Chipper Jones watched Conrad win the game from Jones' No. 3 spot in the order after he left the game in the top of the ninth with the Braves trailing 9-3.

“We’re sitting there adding up runs in our head,” Jones said. “Did we just score enough runs to win this game with that hit? When you’re down eight runs [earlier in the game], it seems like you’re never going to get there.”

Braves starter Tommy Hanson allowed a career-high eight runs while battling dizziness and said afterward he had felt ill for a couple of days. He used 45 pitches trying to get out of a second inning that would never end.

Both Reds shortstop Orlando Cabrera and third baseman Miguel Cairo misplayed potential double-play balls in the ninth to allow the Braves to load the bases and chip two runs off a six-run deficit.

Martin Prado, the last of six consecutive batters to reach base, watched Cairo freeze on a ball that seemed to get caught in his glove and then pop out of his hand after he finally made the exchange.

That brought up Heyward, a two-time last-at-bat hero, but he struck out against left-hander Arthur Rhodes. The Reds brought in right-handed closer Francisco Cordero to face Conrad, a switch-hitter, who took the wrong helmet to the plate at first.

Five pitches later, Conrad was tossing his helmet high in the air and jumping into a mosh pit of teammates at home plate. The celebration continued with a raucous sanitizer-rub-to-his-head session in the clubhouse, a cellphone with 13 missed messages, and hug from his two young children in the clubhouse tunnel.

Conrad hadn’t seen a replay of the homer yet, but wasn’t sure if he wanted to either.

“I don’t really know if I want to watch it,” Conrad said. “I’m going to look like a dork out there, thinking he caught it, then ‘oh.’ But it was a special feeling I’m going to remember for a long time."