With all due respect to the MLB trade deadline, Thursday’s most ridiculous moment came in the eighth inning of the Atlanta Braves-Cincinnati Reds game.
It was a normal game for seven innings. The Reds took a 3-0 lead in the third, but the Braves came back, tying the game in the sixth. Classic baseball stuff.
And then the Braves scored eight runs in the top of the eighth, opening the frame with five straight hits and notching another six straight baserunners after a Jurickson Profar strikeout. The Reds went through four relievers in that inning before Brent Suter finally ended the inning, with the game seemingly lost at 11-3.
The Reds responded with eight straight hits to open the bottom of the inning, capped by a three-run homer from Spencer Steer.
Per Elias Sports, it was only the third time in MLB history that both teams scored at least eight runs in the same inning, joining a Detroit Tigers-Texas Rangers game on May 8, 2004, and a Chicago White Sox-New York Yankees game on Aug. 2, 2007.
No more runs came in the ninth, sending the game to extras, in which the Braves prevailed via a sacrifice fly from Marcell Ozuna in the 10th. Braves closer Raisel Iglesias prevented the ghost runner from scoring to deny the Reds their best win of the year.
It all made for a fun win probability chart.
The game was one of only three played on trade deadline day, in which the Reds were a moderate buyer and the Braves were a hesitant seller. Atlanta is well out of the playoffs at 46-62, while the Reds are in the wild-card hunt at 57-53.
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