BOSTON (AP) — Joey Votto spiked a long fly ball off the top edge of the short right-field wall in front of the Red Sox bullpen in the fifth inning. It popped into the air and back into play for a double.
Then, in the eighth, he did the same thing, only to the 37-foot high Green Monster in left.
Two hits, two doubles — and perhaps a total of two inches from being a pair of home runs.
“I don’t think I have (seen that), to come that close to two home runs in really almost identical plays to different parts of the ballpark,” Reds manager David Bell said after Cincinnati held on to beat Boston 2-1 on Tuesday night.