smash and dash

The home run is all the rage again in the big leagues, but speed still has its place. Zack Cozart and Billy Hamilton demonstrated the value of the smash and the dash elements in Cincinnati’s 9-5 win against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. Ole Miss product Cozart belted his 13th home run – two shy of his career-high – and Taylorsville’s Hamilton swiped three bases – he’s got 22 all told — and scored from second base on a passed ball as the last-place Reds took down the mighty Cubs at Wrigley Field. Hamilton scored the game’s first run in the first when he walked, stole second and came home as a John Lackey pitch got past catcher David Ross; it helped that Lackey, perhaps forgetting who was running, was slow to cover the plate. Cozart hit his homer in the second inning, a two-run shot that made it 4-0. (Cozart tied Corey Dickerson and Brian Dozier for the lead in the all-Mississippi home run derby, each with 13. Mitch Moreland has 11 and Seth Smith 10.) In the fourth, Cozart led off with a double – his 22nd – went to third on a bunt by Hamilton and scored on a sac fly by Joey Votto, putting Cincy up 6-4. In the seventh, Hamilton legged out a bloop double, stole third and scored on a Votto hit to make it 7-5. Cozart (.269) and Hamilton (.244), batting 1-2 in the lineup, combined for four hits, four runs and two RBIs. P.S. Props to former Mississippi Braves Julio Teheran and Craig Kimbrel for making the All-Star Game.