In his 49th career at-bat, Dan Straily got his first hit and his teammates went wild

Before the Reds' 7-4 victory against the Pirates on Sunday, Dan Straily was 0-for-48 at the plate. While that's not terribly surprising given that he's a pitcher -- and one that has primarily played in the American League -- no player likes to look at their career batting average and see three zeros.
That all changed in the bottom of the third when Straily trickled a ground ball into right field for his first career hit.

Of course, Straily had to hustle. With the ball in shallow right and a pitcher running, the Pirates tried -- and nearly managed -- to get the pitcher at first base. Fortunately for that .000 batting average, Straily made it to first. 
Which meant that it was time to celebrate. Straily immediately asked for the ball and the bench started cheering. 

"It finally happened, huh? It finally happened," the hurler-turned-sorta-slugger said after the game. "It was one of the more memorable moments I'll have on a baseball field. That was awesome, to be so brutal at the plate and to get a knock in a Major League game is something I'll be proud of. They can never take that away." 
He had even been warned about the chance of getting thrown out at first. "Freddie [Benavides, the Reds first-base coach] told me before the game, hit the ball to right field, make sure you go, because they're going to try to throw you out at first base," Straily said. "I took off and saw Bell wasn't anywhere near the bag and the throw was on its way, so I tried to make sure I got it through there. That was a lot of fun. It's been kind of a running joke every fifth day around here."
Reds manager Bryan Price was among those excited for Straily. "We were all ready to burst when it actually happened. Contact is the first place to start. He made contact and was able to, I'd like to say drive the ball through the right side, but I think a dribble would be a more descriptive and appropriate word," the skipper said. "But no, it was fun to see him get the hit. I tell you, you can't get far enough away from him when he starts talking about hitting. So thank goodness, hopefully that's the end of one chapter and now we've got to figure out what the next one is."
While the manager joked, he also had no idea how it happened. "I couldn't tell you how he got to hit. I think as coaches used to tell us, swing hard in case you hit it. I think that's what happened. He got the barrel out there just enough to keep it fair." 
That was actually Straily's plan going into the game. After Tucker Barnhart and Tyler Holt saw Straily's batting practice earlier this week and told him to take some bigger hacks, the pitcher decided to swing with more intensity. "They said, 'You're going to look stupid at the plate anyway, so just take those aggressive swings and you might make contact and it'll get through.' That was kind of -- it's not something that just happened. Between those kind of comments, they're actually trying to help."
Given that he played hitting coach, Barnhart had no problem with the softly hit single overshadowing his four-RBI day. "As it should be, by a couple of people, by Joey [Votto] and by Dan," the Reds catcher said. "You can't say enough about Dan. He's been outstanding all season. Not only did he get a bunt down today, but he also got his first hit. It's really special, he's had a hell of a year. I'm really happy for him. You know what you're going to get every time out. He's Mr. Reliable and he's been great."
Of course, Straily's performance can really be summed up in one perfect tweet: 

.021 never looked so good!

— Daniel Straily (@danstraily67) September 18, 2016