Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Tejay Antone’s first MLB appearance since April 2024, after recovering from his third Tommy John surgery, featured two strikeouts in a scoreless eighth inning during a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Antone understandably was very fired up after striking out Alex Bregman looking, getting a flyout by Ian Happ on an impressive catch by center fielder TJ Friedl, and striking out Seiya Suzuki looking.
Reds.TV play-by-play announcer John Sadak and analyst Jeff Brantley were very impressed with Antone’s outing. And as the Reds rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth, Brantley credited the spark Antone’s inning gave the team.
“Let’s be honest,” Brantley said during the broadcast. “The emotion that the Reds got from seeing Antone back on the mound, come off screaming into the dugout. That’s the emotion we saw this club play with early in this season. … They’ve got to figure out a way to find it every single night.”
In the ninth, Elly De La Cruz scored two runs with a sacrifice fly to deep right field to give the Reds a 6-4 lead.
“You don’t see a sac fly with two RBIs very often!” Brantley added.
“I think Friedl was gonna run through that wall to get to that baseball,” Brantley said after Friedl’s catch. “He never broke stride, never stopped, not even for a second. Nice play. That’s a great play by Friedl.”
“The emotions that must be going through Tejay Antone,” Sadak said.
“I can’t even imagine,” Brantley said. “You work so hard for so long, and have so much disappointment. And now here I am again, on the mound. … His teammates know the physical, emotional … mental struggles just to get back on the mound. They know.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Tejay Antone’s inning sparked Reds’ rally vs Cubs | Jeff Brantley
Reporting by Dave Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
