Joey Votto seemingly has done it all over 15-plus Major League Baseball seasons, but Tuesday night’s output might have been the first of its kind for the Reds first baseman.
Votto missed not one, but two home runs by mere inches in Cincinnati’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The six-time All-Star’s first long double came in the fifth inning when he barreled a baseball that bounced off the top of the front wall of Boston’s bullpen in right field. Votto followed suit three innings later when he did damage to the top of the Green Monster in left-center field. This one was so close that he needed to ask the second-base umpire if it left the yard.
Fortunately for Votto, the longball unluckiness didn’t pay dividends, as the Reds hung on for a 2-1 win. And on a personal level, the 38-year-old wasn’t at all bothered that he didn’t get to take two jaunts around the bases at one of baseball’s most storied ballparks.
“I just think about my swing,” Votto told reporters, per The Boston Globe. “That’s it. I get upset if I miss-hit homers. It’s all about long-term success, and if I’m not swinging the bat well and getting lucky then that’s not projectable.
“Those swings today were swings that I can take into any stadium and they can be home runs or they can be doubles or they could be outs. But you have a chance of being successful over the big picture.”
Votto will have one more chance to actually deposit a baseball into the seats at Fenway on Wednesday when the Red Sox and the Reds wrap up their two-game series. NESN’s full coverage of the finale begins at 6 p.m. ET.
