After trailing for the first eight innings, the Reds pulled off a 3-2 victory in 10 innings over the Braves on Friday night at Great American Ball Park. The game-winner came on Devin Mesoraco’s walk-off home run against reliever Jose Ramirez.

Mesoraco, who entered the game in a double-switch in the top of the 10th inning, turned on a 99-mph fastball from Ramirez and lined it to left-center field. It was his third home run of the season and the first walk-off homer of his career.
“Usually in those situations, I get out or something,” Mesoraco said. “That one felt pretty darn good, definitely.”
The Braves carried a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth when closer Jim Johnson faltered with his fourth blown save in 15 attempts. Adam Duvall opened the inning with a double to left field and scored on Eugenio Suarez’s RBI double to the right-field corner.
Johnson got Scott Schebler on a called strike three and Jose Peraza grounded out to move Suarez to third base. A wild pitch to Tucker Barnhart enabled Suarez to score the tying run and force extra innings.
“You’re sitting there and it’s the worst possible outcome to spike a ball like that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “They’ve got to get a hit, and it’s unfortunate.”
It had been smooth sailing most of the way for Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz, as he tied a career high with 10 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings with two hits and two walks. Foltynewicz had one runner reach scoring position on his watch — Barnhart in the third inning. After that, the right-hander retired 15 of his last 17 batters.
A pair of Braves singles to begin the third inning set up the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly by Ender Inciarte. Dansby Swanson started the top of the fifth inning with a homer inside the left-field foul pole against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo for a two-run Atlanta advantage.
Arroyo turned in a quality start, but still came up winless for the fifth straight time. He allowed two earned runs and seven hits over six innings with one intentional walk and two strikeouts. The Reds bullpen turned in four scoreless innings of relief, with Raisel Iglesias getting the victory after pitching the top of the 10th.
It was a play that could have been overlooked after a walk-off win, but Duvall made an important defensive play in the top of the 10th inning. Duvall fielded a Nick Markakis leadoff drive to the wall perfectly and made a quick long throw to hold him to a single. It proved big when the next batter, Matt Kemp, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to erase Markakis.
Peraza hurt his former organization when he made a diving grab of Adonis Garcia’s infield single up the middle and then threw late to first. Garcia was safe, but first baseman Joey Votto quickly threw the ball to the plate to retire Kemp, who attempted to score from second base on an aggressive send by third base coach Ron Washington.
“They’ve got to make a really good play,” Snitker said. “As a third-base coach, they get to a point of no return, where you have to make a decision to send them or not. Those balls up the middle that they keep tracking, sometimes you hit it right and sometimes you don’t. He made a great play. I don’t know how he made that throw from his knees.”
Kemp notched his seventh three-hit game of the season and fourth within an 18-game span dating back to May 15.
Friday marked the first game back at Great American Ball Park for former Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, who was traded to Atlanta just before the opening of Spring Training — along with $13 million. Phillips, who played in Cincinnati from 2006-16, received a loud standing ovation from appreciative Reds fans when he stepped up to bat in the first inning.
The Reds also played a video tribute to Phillips after the half-inning. It wasn’t all controversy-free, however. Phillips, who denied to talk to print media before the game, told Fox Sports Ohio and WLWT-TV that Cincinnati giving away his No. 4 to Scooter Gennett was “like a slap in my face, too.”
R.A. Dickey will take the mound when Atlanta and Cincinnati resume this three-game set Saturday at 3:10 p.m. CT. Just two of the 11 homers surrendered by Dickey this season have been hit during a road game.

Before Chris Smith took to the mound for the Sounds Friday night he was spotted seven runs. The Sounds would then cruise to a 12-3 win to take game two of a four-game series against the Iowa Cubs.

Nashville erupted for seven runs on nine hits in the top of the first inning to give the 36-year-old right-hander a 7-0 lead over the I-Cubs. Smith (3-2, 3.35) followed up Michael Brady’s quality start Thursday night with one of his own. He lasted six innings and matched a season-high by fanning eight I-Cubs. Iowa scattered three hits across the first three innings against Smith but he retired the final ten batters he faced en route to the 18th quality start of the season for Sounds pitchers.

The first seven Sounds to come to the plate recorded a hit. Jaycob Brugman doubled to begin the game followed by a single from Franklin Barreto. Matt Olson brought them both home along with himself by clubbing his 13th home run of the season. Renato Nunez did not want to share the team lead for home runs so he belted a home run himself to take back sole possession of the team lead with his 14th round tripper of 2017. When all was said and done seven runs crossed the plate on nine hits. Brugman picked up a pair of those hits as he singled when the lineup card flipped over. For the Sounds it was their third seven-run inning of the season.

Nashville tacked on another run in the sixth inning as Ryan LaMarre recorded his second run-scoring single of the game. Olson showed off his power again in the seventh inning as he muscled an opposite field home run to lead off the frame and give the Sounds a 9-0 lead. It was the second time this season Olson has clubbed a pair of home runs in a game. The dinger upped Olson’s tally to 14 on the season, which once again matched Nunez for the team lead and is tied for second in the Pacific Coast League.

The I-Cubs avoided the shutout by posting a run in the seventh inning off Aaron Kurcz (2-3, 7.91). Chesny Young drove in the first run of the game for Iowa with an RBI double and he drove in the second run in the same fashion in the bottom of the ninth off Felix Doubront. Bijan Rademacher closed out the scoring for the night with a line drive base hit in the ninth inning.

In the top of the ninth inning the Sounds would add to their already sizeable lead by putting up a three spot. Nunez pushed the first pitch he saw down the right field line for a double that scored Brugman from second base. Then Joey Wendle and Matt Chapman knocked in runs with RBI singles to complete the scoring for the Sounds.

Nashville put up 17 base knocks on the night and seven different Sounds hitters recorded multi-hit games and crossed the plate.

The Sounds play game three of the series on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. Right-hander Corey Walter (1-0, 2.79) starts for Nashville against right-hander Seth Frankoff (0-2, 2.90) for Iowa. First pitch is scheduled for 7:08 p.m.

The Red Raider basketball team opened up summer camp action on Thursday at Oakland with a tripleheader.  Coffee County lost games to Wilson Central and Riverdale before ending the day with a 22 point win against Lexington, TN.

Head coach Micah Williams begins the task of replacing 4 starters from last year’s squad which finished with a record of 21 and 8.  The 3 returning players with the most experience were 3 of the players who he called out for having a good day on Thursday.  “Garrett Booth did a good job of running our team as the floor general.  He took on the role and responsibility today, ” added Williams.  Darius Rozier was the leading scorer on the day as he also led the team in rebounding.  “Darius did a good job of being more physical around the basket.  Rising senior Deaaron Rozier was also singled out for his strong defensive play.  Williams liked the work of some of his young players as he singled out Harley Hinshaw and Andrew Mahaffey as each had good defensive days.

“Right now, our defense is ahead of our offense.  (Friday) we want to work on being more consistent on the offensive end.  Our losses today were the results of scoring droughts that we will need to eliminate”, Williams went on to say.   The Red Raiders open up play at 9 AM on Friday with additional games at 11 and 12.  Coffee County will travel to MTSU for a team camp on June 12^th thru the 15^th.

Coffee County’s Breyer Taylor has been selected to play in the Tennessee Soccer Coaches Association All-Star game on Saturday in Hendersonville.  Taylor, who graduated last week as the career goal scoring leader at CHS, will be a member of the East team in the annual All-Star Showcase.  Taylor was honored in May as a member of the District 8AAA All-District team and the District 8AAA Forward of the Year.  Taylor joins 36 other recent graduates for the event to be held at Drakes Creek Park.  James Fee of Lincoln County will be a forward on the West team as the only other District 8AAA representative to the game.  The East squad will be coached by Ryan Radcliff of Bearden High School.  The game is set to get under way at 7 PM.

The Manchester Youth Football League will be holding their last 2 signups for the 2017 season over the next 2 weekends.  Signups for football players AND cheerleaders will take place on Saturday from 9 AM to 1 PM at Fred Deadman Park, Shelter #1  Signups are for boys and girls ages 5 to 12.  Signups will conclude on Saturday, June 10^th.  Everyone is asked to bring a copy of your child’s birth certificate to signups.  Each child signing up must also be present for uniform fitting. Cost to participate is $100 per child and there are discounts available for multiple kids from the same family.

The league is broken up in 4 age divisions – Pee Wee: ages 4 & 5 year; Division 1: ages 6 & 7 year; Division 2: ages 8 & 9; Division 3: ages 10 thru 12.  The league is expected to begin practices on July 10^th.  If you have questions, or need for information, you can email your questions to: manchesteryouthfootballleague@gmail.com or call 931-434-5386.  You can also visit the Manchester Youth Football League website at: www.MYFLRaiders.com or on Facebook at: Manchester Youth Football and Manchester Youth Cheerleading.