By: Robiel Vega / @ RobielVega
Guillermo Heredia, “El Conde”, continues to show good offensive performance this season and despite not having much continuity, he has left interesting numbers. This Tuesday he was the most prominent Cuban on offense, producing a couple of hits in four at-bats, scoring two and bringing one for the plate in a rather curious play.
The Red Sox started with a good lead in the same first inning with four runs, then in the third they extended with one more. The Braves reacted in the third and fourth with four touchdowns, and then their rivals returned to walk away with two in the fifth.
With the 7 × 4 crash in favor of Boston, the Red Sox defense collapsed in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a ticket to Abraham Almonte, the waiter Enrique Hernández fumbled the ball in a connection from Willian Contreras. With men in first and second, it was the turn of the Matanzas center fielder, who was not too small for the situation.
On reliever Garrett Whitlock’s first pitch, a 96 MPH sinker, Heredia hit a rock-hard first base ball that proved impossible for first baseman Bobby Dalbec. The ball reached right field patrolled by Hunter Renfroe who, in a desperate attempt to prevent Almonte from scoring, launched a shot wide off the plate.
Although the pitcher assisted behind the plate, the shot helped Heredia advance to middle and Contreras safely arrived at third base. Minutes later, Boston’s defense would fail again, with a passball committed by receiver Christian Vázquez that allowed Heredia to reach third, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Freddie Freeman.
It should be noted that the man from Matanzas had already scored another in the third, after hitting his 13th double of the season in just 113 times at bat and his extra-base 15, more than half of the 29 hits he has fired.
Heredia left an offensive line of (.257 / .339 / .425 / .763), reached 20 runs scored and 13 RBIs, achieving 31 RBIs to date. Without further ado, enjoy the moment:
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