This year’s Reds squad has electrified the fans with several last inning heroics for victories. The 2000 edition of the Reds went through a similar spurt in May, winning three consecutive games with last inning home runs.
On May 13, 2000, Ken Griffey, Jr., in his first season as a Red, provided the winning margin in an 8-7 victory over the Astros in Houston. Trailing 6-2 in the top of the 8th inning, Michael Tucker, Griffey and Dmitri Young hit consecutive homers, providing four runs to tie the game at 6-6. The Astros took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the 8th, before Griffey’s second homer of the game provided the winning margin for the Reds. Griffey’s two run homer came with two outs, on an 0-2 pitch from ace reliever Billy Wagner.
The Reds had won the two previous games on home runs, too. On May 11, Aaron Boone hit a two-run walk off home run to beat the Padres, 11-9, at Cinergy Field in Cincinnati. Aaron’s brother and former Red, Bret Boone, hit two home runs for the Padres that day.
On the next night, May 12, the Reds slugged two homers in the top of the 11th inning to beat the Astros 7-3, in the Reds’ first ever game at Enron Field in Houston. Pokey Reese broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run homer, and Reds’ closer Danny Graves followed with his first major league home run to provide the final margin. The homer was Graves’s first major league hit, coming in his 12th major league at bat.
Information gathered from one of my favorite Reds’ books, “Redleg Journal,” by Greg Rhodes and John Snyder.