Hamilton provides fast finish with walkoff homer
CINCINNATI — Billy Hamilton could have taken his time.
The game was over, with the Cincinnati Reds claiming a 5-4, walk-off victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. Hamilton had hit the home run that ended it. He could have walked around the bases. There was no rush.
Then again, slowing down has never really been his thing.
Instead, Hamilton bolted around the bases as if he were trying to reach home before the ball landed in the left-field seats. The 26-year-old speedster capped his sprint with a leaping landing on home plate, surrounded by his teammates.
It was a surprising turn of events. “Walk-off home run” might be the loneliest space on the bingo card of Billy Hamilton highlights, distantly trailing “circus catch” and “havoc on the basepaths.” Monday’s homer was just his fifth of the season, and his first ever to end a game. He had his eyes set on an even rarer feat.
“I was going to get a home run if it landed in play anyway,” the center fielder said. “That’s what the goal was, to hit it off the wall and get an inside-thepark homer. That’s why I was running so fast.”
The switch-hitting Hamilton came to the plate against Brewers left-hander closer Josh Hader with two outs in the ninth, hoping to save the Reds from playing extra innings. They already had wasted a 4-0 lead and a strong outing from starter Homer Bailey, losing the lead in the seventh.
Hamilton, though, turned on an inside fastball at 96 mph and dropped it 405 away in left.
“I was so elated, I didn’t watch anything after that ball cleared the fence,” manager Bryan Price said. “I was caught up in my own joy.”