Not so 'stupid': Puig gives Reds walk-off win 

CINCINNATI -- Yasiel Puig saw his opening, took the risk and the Reds reaped the reward on Tuesday at Great American Ball Park.

A soft two-out single lofted by José Iglesias down the right-field line sent Puig from first to third base. Just as he was about to slow down, right fielder Christian Yelich’s throw to cut-off man Eric Thames took a hop and skipped off of his glove and trickled through the infield grass. An alert Puig sprinted for home and gave Cincinnati a thrilling 5-4 walk-off win in 11 innings with a headfirst slide ahead of catcher Yasmani Grandal’s desperation throw to the plate.

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“I saw Yelich miss the cut-off man and the first baseman didn’t catch the ball. As soon as I saw [Grandal] going to the ball, I said ‘OK, let me try,’” Puig explained. “That’s things only myself can do, being Puig, being stupid sometimes like people call me. But some of the stupid things you do in baseball work for myself and work for the team.”

On Saturday after a Reds loss to the Cubs, reliever Pedro Strop called Puig “stupid” multiple times when the slugger approached the mound after being hit by a 3-0 pitch and triggering a bench-clearing incident.

But Puig’s attempt to make something good happen was anything but stupid to fifth-place Cincinnati, which gained a game on first-place Milwaukee in the standings to reside 5 1/2 games back in the National League Central.

“Great baserunning by Puig,” Iglesias said. “That's what it comes down to, little things like that. When you play a good team like that, you've got to pay attention to little things like that. I'm very happy for Puig."

There were two outs in the bottom of the 11th when Puig scorched a liner into center field against Corbin Burnes. Iglesias was in an 0-2 count when he fouled off back-to-back sliders -- including one as Puig was taking off for second base. Burnes responded with a 97 mph fastball, and Iglesias was able to lift it just past the dirt into the grass behind first base.

“[Puig] was working hard to get a good jump to steal a base that whole at-bat with Iggy hitting,” Reds manager David Bell said. “That’s why you can live with the aggressiveness because when guys have the freedom to be aggressive and just, man, he willed that win with his baserunning and then Iggy with a great at-bat. He was fighting off good pitches and just kept working until he put one in play. Good things happen when you do that.”

Fortunately for the Reds, Puig slowed but never stopped and kept watching the ball.

“He was anticipating that ball getting by and as soon as he saw it, that’s not something the third-base coach can help you with or anything,” Bell said. “That’s just wanting to score. It’s a fun way to win a game and that means a lot to our team.”

“It got away from Eric too far,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “If you just knock it down, nothing happens. You can’t let it get away from you that much. In the end, we didn’t make a defensive play.”

The Reds were down, 4-2, in the seventh inning when they started to battle back. With one out, Puig hit a first-pitch homer to right field against Freddy Peralta. A two-out rally came in the eighth against right-hander Matt Albers with Nick Senzel reaching on an infield single to the hole at shortstop. Senzel scored on Joey Votto’s game-tying RBI double to right field.

In the ninth, Puig was grazed on the hand by a pitch from Junior Guerra. Iglesias followed with a fly out to center field. In another risk-taking decision, Puig tagged up and bolted for second base. Lorenzo Cain made a perfect throw ahead of the sliding Puig, but second baseman Keston Hiura missed the tag.

“I like to play the way I play. Sometimes, it’s ridiculous and stupid but sometimes it works,” Puig said. “At that point if he throws me out, people are going to say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ But when things are going right, people are happy. The manager wants us as a team to play aggressive and that’s what I wanted to do, play aggressive every day.”