AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!
Sorry about the long gap between chapters, but I wanted to take some time to work on my XCOM story. Anyway, before beginning the latest installment, I'd like to take the time to answer CI's last review.
CI: My favorite character from the Peanuts growing up would have to be Schroder. Growing up I was always fascinated by music, and Schroder was the character I could most relate to with his Beethoven obsession. Also, the way he stood up for Charlie Brown in the Valentine episode really earned my respect as that's something I would do for a friend in Charlie Brown's position.
Now let's get on with the story. This one's going to be a good one.
Chapter 10: The Big Time
== The Following Day ==
Charlie Brown was awoken at 9 AM by a call from the stadium that turned out to be Meadows.
"Skipper wants to see you in an hour Charlie Brown. Better get down here."
Charlie Brown thanked Meadows for the call and got up to get ready for the day, all the while thinking about what the manager could possibly want. After calling Marcie and letting her know what was going on, he hailed a cab to the stadium.
Arriving ten minutes early, Charlie Brown figured he might as well go and see what's up, so he made his way to the manager's office and knocked on the already open door.
"You wanted to see me Skip?"
"Yes Charlie Brown. Come on in and have a seat. Sleep well?"
"Wonderfully sir, I was in need of a good night's sleep after yesterday's game." replied Charlie Brown as he took a seat on the middle of the couch opposite the manager's desk. Looking around, he noticed that it was adorned with pictures of the teams he managed for in the minors. He was broken from his scrutiny of the room by the manager's voice.
"Look Charlie Brown, I've seen a lot of guys come into the league with the tools to go far, and what you've shown me is supportive of the belief that you'll one day be in the majors."
"Thank you for the praise sir."
"You're welcome Charlie Brown. Though praise isn't the only reason I've called you in so early, your performance has gotten the attention of the GM and Owner and they've decided to purchase your contract effective immediately."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying sir?!" asked an equally shocked and excited Charlie Brown.
"Yes it is son. You're going directly to the majors to serve as the club's #5 starter replacing Daniel Corcino. With this promotion you're on the 40 man roster, and you get a pay raise to $500,000 a year for the rest of your contract. Congratulations Charlie Brown! You must now pack up your gear, and hop on a plane to Kansas City to meet up with the rest of the team. Here's the flight ticket, you leave in an hour. Good luck son!"
"Thank you! This is the best day of my life! I must tell the others! Goodbye skip!" exclaimed Charlie Brown as he quickly hugged the manager before hustling down to the locker room to pack his things.
== In the Locker Room ==
Charlie Brown arrived in the locker room to see all of his friends gathered there waiting for him, as Marcie had contacted them earlier to tell them what happened. Marcie was the first to ask the question of everyone's mind.
"What was the meeting about Charles?"
"Well the GM called skipper to inform him that I was being promoted directly to the majors effective immediately! I have to leave in an hour to meet the team in Kansas City!" exclaimed Charlie Brown to his shocked teammates and girlfriend.
"O Charles I'm so happy for you!" cried Marcie as she engulfed in a hug crying tears of joy. The others waited a moment before each individually coming up to congratulate him with a handshake and man hug.
"I can't thank you guys enough for supporting me down here as we all worked together to get promoted. I just hope that you guys will one day join me up here as well."
"I'm sure we will Charlie Brown. Now come on you have to get packed your plane leaves in 45 minutes!" said Les as the group began working on gathering his things.
After that Charlie Brown and Marcie were outside the stadium in front of a taxi cab that would take Charlie Brown to the airport and the major leagues. The others had already said their goodbyes and went back inside to get ready for the 4:00 PM game.
"I don't know what I'll do without you there cheering for me Marcie."
"I will be there in spirit Charles. The guys and I will be cheering you on from here and besides I'll be joining you once the season ends here."
"I know, but it seems like a long way away, I mean what if…"
Anything else he was going to say was silenced by a long, loving kiss from Marcie.
"There now stop worrying Charles. You worked long and hard to get here, and don't worry you'll do amazing!"
"Thanks Marcie! I'll call you when I get there."
"I'll be waiting for it Charles." Said Marcie as the taxi began to depart with Charles looking at her from the back of it lovingly. Both of them shed some tears as they both thought of when they would see each other again.
== In Kansas City ==
Charlie Brown had just landed in Kansas City and found a taxi driver waiting for him at the airport to take him to Kauffman Stadium where he'd be receiving his uniform and meeting his teammates. On the way there, Charlie Brown had called Marcie to tell her that he was okay, and he also called his folks back home to tell them the good news. Needless to say, they were extremely proud and happy for him and agreed to come down and see him on Sunday Afternoon with those of his supporters that would be able to go on such short notice. Shortly after hanging up, the taxi arrived at the stadium.
After paying the driver for his services, Charlie Brown entered the visitor's clubhouse and was immediately met by Pitching Coach Jeff Pico and Manager Bryan Price. Both congratulate him on making the jump to the big leagues and hope that he has success up here with the club. Price then left to finish the lineup for the game, while Pico showed Charlie Brown to his locker where his jersey was waiting. Walking towards the far end of the clubhouse, Charlie Brown could feel the eyes of his new teammates sizing him up as he walked with Pico. He knew it wasn't everyday that a rookie joins the club directly from AA, let alone only two months into the season.
'I wonder what they think of me. Probably not much at the current moment, I have to earn their praise and trust.' Thought Charlie Brown as they arrived at their destination which was coincidentally in between two of the team's other starters RHP Mike Leake and RHP Homer Bailey. Mike was the starter for today's game so he had left earlier to begin his warm ups on the field. Homer however was still getting ready when he saw the new guy enter with his pitching coach.
"Homer glad I caught you before you went out for batting practice. Charlie Brown here is the newest call up we told you guys about earlier. Think you could show him around for me and introduce him to some of the guys?" asked Pico.
"Sure thing Pico I'll gladly do that. Go ahead and get dressed and I'll meet you outside the dugout." replied Homer in his thick Texan accent.
Both men left Charlie Brown alone as he set about putting his bag away before changing into his new uniform which had the number 27 on the back of it.
'I can't believe that I'm actually here and putting on a major league uniform! If this is a dream let me sleep for ten more minutes.'
After getting dressed, Charlie Brown put on his jacket and grabbed his glove as he found Homer waiting for him outside the dugout. Homer Bailey was one of the Reds prized pitchers as he signed a substantial contract before the season keeping him in Cincinnati for the next six seasons. Homer was the same height as Charlie Brown at 6'4'', but had fifteen more pounds of muscle on him as he weighed in at 240 lbs. The Texan saw Charlie Brown heading over, and invited him into the conversation he was currently having with young outfielder Billy Hamilton and catchers Devin Mesoraco and Brayan, (pronounced Bryan), Peña.
"Guys meet Charlie Brown, he's the new guy from AA we were told about this morning at the team meeting." said Homer as the others introduced themselves to the rookie.
"What's up CB? I'm Billy Hamilton and your centerfielder for the foreseeable future." said the 24 year old speedster. Billy Hamilton was considered by many baseball experts as the fastest man in the game today as he holds the minor league record for most stolen bases in a season with 155. Billy is very small, (only 6' 0'' and 160 lbs.) but he makes up for it with his speed and fielding prowess as he was the club's leadoff hitter.
"Nice to meet you Charlie Brown, I'm Devin Mesoraco your catcher on most days." Devin Mesoraco was slightly shorter than Charlie Brown a 6' 1', but weighed the same as him at 225 lbs. Devin was the team's everyday catcher as he was known as a terrific defensive catcher with a solid bat.
"Nice to meet you Charlie Brown, It's refreshing to have some new blood on the team for a change. I'm Brayan Peña." greeted the final member of the group in what sounded to Charlie Brown as a Cuban accent. Brayan was the team's backup catcher and acting DH when playing American League teams. He was a short and stocky catcher, standing at 5' 9'' and weighing 242 lbs., but he made up for it with solid fielding and sometimes a hot bat.
Charlie Brown greeted each of them in turn and told them about where he was from and how he did down in AA with Pensacola. The others were shocked that he did so well, and hoped that he could help the club out as they were currently in the midst of a seven game losing streak. The guys gave him the rundown of warm-ups and how they varied depending on your role in the game, and they participated in them before it was time to start the game.
== Game Summaries ==
The first game went poorly for the team that day. Mike Leake only managed to go 4.1 innings and gave up eight runs as the team ended up losing 10 – 8. To give them credit, the team managed to fight back and the tie the game with contributions from 3B Todd Frazier who hit two homers, 1B Joey Votto who had a 2 RBI double, 2B Brandon Phillips who had a sac fly, and Brayan also had a 2 RBI single. However, reliever J.J. Hoover came in and gave up two runs in the seventh which sealed the team's fate as they couldn't recover from that decisive blow.
The second game was much closer, but it was the same result as the team ended up losing 1 – 0 behind Homer. Homer pitched well only giving up the run on a Mike Moustakas sac fly in the 6th inning, but the offense just wasn't materializing as Homer's record dropped to 2 – 3 on the season.
== Off Day ==
The next day was an off day for the team as they used it to travel to their next destination on their Interleague portion of the schedule which was Cleveland, Ohio. The team already had its own flight booked, and the team was currently on the relatively short flight. Charlie Brown was of course sitting with the group he met on his first day as he befriended them rather quickly after meeting them. He had also been introduced to Mike Leake after his start Tuesday night since he hung out with the same group. Leake was a rather short pitcher as he was only 6' 0'' and weighed at 190 lbs, but he made up for it with great command of his pitches and was currently serving as the team's ace. The group were interested to know more about Charlie Brown since he didn't really reveal too much of his personal life during their stay in Kansas City.
"Hey CB! Why don't you tell us about your hometown? I'm sure people there must be going crazy since you'll be starting on Sunday?" asked Billy as the group nodded in agreement since they wanted to find out more about the young pitcher.
"Well not really. Growing up pretty much all of my coaches and most of the adults looked down on me or ignored me since I was a screw up for most of my childhood. I almost never had any support for my dream as some people couldn't see me being anything other than a failure and a blockhead."
The others were shocked at that fact. Here was a young guy who has worked himself to death to achieve his dream, and had received little support growing up.
"We're sorry for bringing that up Charlie Brown. We had no idea you went through that your entire childhood." apologized Brayan and the others agreed with him.
"It's okay guys you didn't know. Besides I've always had this small group of friends that supported me throughout my life that kept me going. I even made some other friends in AA that are now considered a part of that group as well. I use all the negative things they used to say to me as motivation to keep me striving to prove them wrong. One day I'll be able to say I'm the better person because I came out on top! I accomplished my goal! What have you done? And that my friends is sweet, sweet justice."
"Can't disagree with you there Charlie Brown! Who's up for some cards?" said Mike as he dealt the cards out to the group for a game of Blackjack.
== In Cleveland ==
The team arrived in Cleveland later that night, and checked into their hotel which Charlie Brown noticed was much better than the ones his AA team stayed in. After a wonderful night's rest, tomorrow brought the beginning of a three game series against the Cleveland Indians™.
RHP Johnny Cueto started the first game and the team managed to snap their losing streak by a final score of 5 – 2. Cueto managed to go 8 innings and struck out eight batters and improved to 5 – 2 on the year after Aroldis Chapman recorded his seventh save of the year. Cueto was supported by offense from Frazier who doubled in two runners, Votto who singled in another run, and LF Marlon Byrd who had a two run homer.
In the second game, the team managed to win again behind a solid start from LHP Tony Cingrani. Cingrani went 7.1 innings and only gave up one run in a 4 – 1 victory which improved his record to 4 – 4 on the season. Left-handed reliever Sean Marshall came in and got the final two outs of the eighth for his eighth hold of the season, while Chapman recorded his eighth save. The offense was provided by Billy's RBI double and Byrd's three run homer.
== Game Day (Sunday May 24, 2015) ==
The team had decided to hold a press conference before the 1:00 PM game to introduce Charlie Brown to the Reds™ fan base that was probably unfamiliar with the young man. The conference was held at 10:00 AM so that way Charlie Brown had enough time to get ready before the game started, he had met his parents earlier and gave them their tickets and promised that he'd meet up with them after the game was over. He arrived early as the conference was held outside the visitor's clubhouse and included GM Walt Jocketty, manager Bryan Price, and the Head of Media Relations who was there to ensure that men didn't say anything that would make the team look bad.
Charlie Brown was indeed shocked when he saw who the person was when he was introduced to them by Jocketty. It turns out the person was none other than Violet Grey one of his old childhood tormentors. Violet's father had bought the team shortly after Violet had entered college for Journalism. Once she graduated, (I have her as one year older than Charlie Brown), she was offered the job thanks to her father's influence. Now of course, many people doubted her ability since it was her father's decision, but she had really proven herself as a dedicated worker and had managed to keep the organization in a positive light with regards to the media and the fan base despite the team's struggles.
Violet was also equally shocked that Charlie Brown was the new player her father kept raving about when he went over the team's minor league reports. She had at first joined in on the attacks against Charlie Brown because her friends were doing it, and she truly believed that she was better than him thanks to her father's vast wealth. However, over the years she became disillusioned by the treatment and stopped joining in when her friends weren't present since she started to recognize that he did have some potential in playing baseball. When she left for college, she had a year to think about what she'd done and had started feeling guilty about how she treated him and resolved to apologize to him when she next saw him. Unfortunately, Charlie Brown purposely avoided everyone that put him down in college since he was tired of dealing with all the crap and wanted to prove them wrong. She finally had gotten her chance when she heard he was drafted by the team, and was awaiting the day for him to be called up. Despite this she was still surprised that he'd done it this quickly.
'Maybe I underestimated the amount of potential I saw in him when I did finally notice him. I'd approach him now, but the look in his eyes means certain death for me. Besides angering him, might upset his performance today, so I think it'd be best to approach him after the game is over. Maybe he'll do amazing today? I just have to sit back and watch from the owner's box with daddy.'
The conference wasn't terribly long as it was just a standard set of questions about who he was, where he was from, what his favorite things were, and how he felt about being called up. After the conference he went into the clubhouse to get ready for the game.
== In the Dugout ==
Charlie Brown had finished his warm-ups and had begun his meditation as he went over the lineups for today's game. (Anyone without a letter in parenthesis is a right handed hitter, and the * marks a hot player, while ** marks a cold player.)
Cincinnati Reds™ (17 – 26) Cleveland Indians™ (22 – 20)
CF Billy Hamilton (S) ** 1. CF Michael Bourn (L)
2B Brandon Phillips 2. RF David Murphy (L)
1B Joey Votto (L)* 3. DH Brandon Moss (L)*
3B Todd Frazier * 4. 1B Carlos Santana (S)*
RF Jay Bruce (L) 5. 3B Lonnie Chisenhall (L)
LF Marlon Byrd ** 6. LF Nick Swisher (S)
C Devin Mesoraco 7. SS Mike Aviles
DH Brayan Peña (S) ** 8. 2B Ryan Raburn
SS Zack Cozart ** 9. C Roberto Perez
'They're throwing practically every switch-hitter and lefthander they had at their disposal. This is going to be a tough fight, but no one ever said it'd be easy up her in the majors. If it was there'd be a much bigger percentage of people who made it this far.'
== In the Owner's Box ==
Violet, Walt, and her father, Martin, were already enjoying a nice cold drink on the unusually hot Cleveland afternoon, as they watched the Indians take the field. Violet was only paying moderate attention to the conversation the two men were having regarding the team's early struggles as her mind drifted to Charlie Brown.
'How good are you really Charlie Brown? Was I so blinded by my unwarranted hate and ignorance that I never noticed? I hope you can prove the younger me wrong.'
== Top of the 1st Inning ==
Before the game started, Charlie Brown was shown on the screen in the Bowman® Prospect Spotlight due to him being called up. He looked into the right field stands and saw his parents sitting with his sister, Linus, Pigpen, and Peppermint Patty who had all made the trip from Minnesota to be there. He waved to them and tipped his hat as they cheered for him. After that, the game started in earnest as Trevor Bauer finished his warm up pitches and stared down Billy.
Billy started the game off with a solid triple to left field as his speed easily beat the throw in by Swisher. Following that, Phillips came up hit a sharp single up the middle that easily scored Billy and put them up 1 – 0. Votto then continued the early rally with a walk that moved Phillips to second with no outs.
Frazier stood in next, and flew out to shallow left field that kept Phillips from advancing to third. Following that, Jay Bruce's hard grounder to third was fielded easily by Chisenhall who stepped on third forcing Phillips out.
Now with two outs, Marlon Byrd looked to extend the early lead. Byrd hit a solid single to right, but Votto decided to test Murphy's arm by going for the score. Unfortunately, that wasn't the brightest idea as Murphy threw out the slow Votto for the final out of the inning.
== Bottom of the 1st Inning ==
Walking out to the mound, Charlie Brown was probably the most nervous he'd ever been in his life. He was about to pitch in front of millions of people across the country for the first time ever. Despite all of this he was grateful for the early lead his team provided him.
CF Michael Bourn walked up as the first person to ever face Charlie Brown in the majors. Four short pitches later, Bourn was astronomically late on the middle in 4SFB that signified his first major league strikeout.
After acknowledging his accomplishment with a simple hat tip to the crowd, Charlie Brown stared in to face RF David Murphy. Murphy sat on the second pitch low Curve and singled it right up the middle past the mound.
Next up was DH Brandon Moss who was recently acquired from the Pirates in a trade and he took the first pitch he saw to shortstop where Cozart fielded it cleanly and flipped it to Phillips, who fired to Votto to complete the 6-4-3 double play and end the inning.
== Bottom of the 2nd Inning ==
After they failed to score in the top half of the inning, Charlie Brown came out for the bottom half.
1B Carlos Santana led off the inning with a five pitch groundout to Votto who took the ball to first unassisted for the first out.
3B Lonnie Chisenhall was next as he took the first pitch 2SFB to center for a base hit.
LF Nick Swisher continued the rally, as he took advantage of the lack of a shift and took a third pitch Curve to right for another base hit.
With runners on first and second with one out, SS Mike Aviles looked to tie the game up with a base hit. However he was set down on six pitches when he was late on a low 4SFB for the second out.
The next man up was2B Ryan Raburn who managed to work a six pitch walk when he laid off the close 4SFB that just missed the inside corner.
Now with the bases loaded, Charlie Brown found himself in some hot water. He stepped off the mound and took off his hat as he looked towards his supporters in the stands and then to the sky as he thought of Marcie and the guys back in Pensacola cheering him on. He then stepped back onto the mound and stared down the ninth hitter in the Cleveland lineup catcher Roberto Perez. Perez was very impatient as he took the first pitch he saw directly to Phillips who tossed it to Votto for the easy third out.
== Top of the 3rd Inning ==
The inning didn't start off well for Cincinnati as Phillips popped out to Perez behind the plate, and Votto struck out swinging on Bauer's 12-6 curve. But Frazier managed to kick start the inning by singling to left field. Bruce then followed that by drawing a seven pitch walk from Bauer who lost the zone all of a sudden. Byrd then came up and hit a solid double to left field as Frazier and Bruce both managed to come around and score extending the lead to 3 – 0. Devin then hit a hard shot that was speared by Santana at first to end the inning.
== Bottom of the 3rd Inning ==
Bourn led off the inning with his second at bat as he popped out to Votto after four pitches.
Murphy then came through with his second hit as he singled again, but this time to right field.
Moss then followed that by trying to kill the ball, but ended up chasing a high and away 4SFB that was at his eyes for the second out.
Santana then came up looking to continue the inning, but after five pitches went fishing after a low curve that was in the dirt. He hustled towards first when Devin mishandled it, but he managed to track it down to his left and fired to first to get Santana by a couple steps for the final out.
== Top of the 4th Inning ==
Brayan led off the inning for Cincinnati by hitting a sharp grounder to Aviles who dove to his right to field it. After getting to his knees, he fired the ball to first but Brayan beat the throw as he was hustling all the way.
Cozart came up next and hit a grounder to Santana at first who fired it to Aviles who covered second for the first out, however Bauer was slow to cover first and Cozart beat the throw back to first.
Billy then hit a slow roller to third that was fielded by Chisenhall who got it to Raburn covering second for the second out, but there was no chance getting the speedy Billy at first.
Phillips came up next and drew a ten pitch walk from Bauer who was struggling to close out the inning. This was further compounded by Votto who singled to center which scored Billy easily making it 4 – 0 Cincinnati.
This marked the end of the day for Bauer as the manager pulled him after only 3.2 innings pitched. The call to the bullpen was answered by RHP Josh Tomlin who came in to clean up Bauer's mess. The first man he faced was Frazier and he succeeded in ending the threat as he got Frazier to hit it to Aviles who flipped to Raburn covering the bag at second for the final out.
== Bottom of the 4th Inning ==
Chisenhall was up first for Cleveland, but only lasted three pitches when he went after a low and away 2SFB and hit a high chopper down the third base line. Devin popped out of his crouch and ran it down before firing to first for the first out of the inning.
Swisher walked up next and this time he was facing the over shift with Phillips in shallow right and Cozart just to the right of second. Swisher took the second pitch directly into the shift as Phillips fielded it cleanly and threw him out for the second out.
Aviles was the third batter this inning, and he fought for five pitches before grounding out to Frazier at third for the final out of the inning.
==Bottom of the 5th Inning ==
After failing to score in the top half, Charlie Brown came back out in the bottom half to try and keep the lead at four runs. On the second pitch of his at bat Ryan Raburn was looking for a high fastball and crushed the pitch over the left center field wall 407 feet away for Cleveland's first run of the game.
Slightly rattled, Charlie Brown stepped off and collected his thoughts before stepping back in to face Perez. Perez only saw four pitches and fished on a low Curve for the first out.
Following that, the strike zone shrunk for some reason and Bourn ended up walking on five pitches. Instead of getting angry Charlie Brown just shook it off and tried to hold the speedy Bourn from stealing second,
Murphy tried to get his third hit off of Charlie Brown's divided focus, but he couldn't as he hit the second pitch to shallow center field that was easily run down by Billy for the second out.
Moss was up next and took two pitches, as Bourn broke for second on the second pitch Curve. Devin got the ball and fired a bullet to second that was just in time to nail Bourn for the final out.
==Bottom of the 6th Inning ==
Cincinnati failed to score again in the sixth as Tomlin shut them down. Moss came up again since he was still batting when Bourn was caught stealing. He took the first pitch 4SFB directly to Phillips who threw him out easily at first.
Santana came up next and managed to drag out a seven pitch at bat before he took the low and away 4SFB high into the air near first that was easily handled by Votto for the second out.
Chisenhall came up next and kept the inning alive by hitting the second pitch Curve back up the middle for a single.
The inning would end there as Swisher took the very next pitch directly to Cozart who flipped to Philips at second for the force out.
== Top of the 7th Inning ==
Votto led off the inning against Tomlin by smacking a five pitch homer to left field which was his fifth of the season. This was the ending to Tomlin's day as the manager brought in the Taiwanese sidearm throwing RHP C. C. Lee.
Frazier then struck out on a low 4SFB. Bruce managed to draw a walk, and Byrd then hit a double to center field. Bourn ran the ball down and came up firing as Bruce rounded third. The ball hopped twice before landing in Perez's glove as he tagged Bruce before he scored for the second out of the inning.
Not wanting it to end here, Devin drew another walk off of Lee putting runners at first and second with two outs. Brayan then looked to drive them in, but hit a hard grounder to Raburn up the middle who just stepped on second base for the final out. The score was now 5 – 1 Cincinnati.
== Bottom of the 7th Inning ==
Aviles became the first out of the inning rather quickly as he went after the first pitch Curve that he grounded to Cozart at short.
Following him, Raburn stepped back up looking for another homer, but was frozen on the fourth pitch as the Curve caught the low inside corner for the second out.
Perez was next and he was looking to avoid giving Charlie Brown a 1-2-3 inning, but he failed as he grounded out to Phillips after three pitches.
== Top of the 8th Inning ==
LHP Scott Downs came in to relieve Lee and he managed to set down Cincinnati 1-2-3.
== Bottom of the 8th Inning ==
Bourn came up for his third official at bat after his walk in the 5th and was set down after four pitches when he was caught looking at a high and in 4SFB.
Murphy then hit the second pitch he saw to Phillips' left at second. Phillips dove and knocked the ball down, but didn't secure it and Murphy managed to beat his recovery throw by a step.
Moss then fought for four pitches before flying out to medium deep right field, which prevented Murphy from tagging up to second.
Santana then jumped on the first pitch which he sent right to Phillips who threw to first for the final out of the inning.
== Top of the 9th Inning ==
Votto led off the inning by hitting a sharp grounder to Chisenhall's right down the line that he dove to stop it from getting past. Rushing to his feet, Chisenhall fired the ball wildly and it airmailed Santana and landed in the seats which allowed Votto to advance to second base. This was marked as Chisenhall's first error of the season.
Frazier then capitalized and doubled over the centerfielder's head which allowed Votto to score as an unearned run for Downs.
RHP Bryan Shaw was then called in to replace Downs to try and prevent the run from scoring. He managed to get Bruce to fly out to left, Byrd to ground out to second, and Devin to ground out to third to prevent Frazier from scoring. But, the lead had been extended to 6 – 1 Cincinnati.
== Bottom of the 9th Inning ==
Charlie Brown went back out to the mound looking for a complete game in his first career start, which was a major accomplishment for a rookie pitcher.
Chisenhall was the leadoff hitter for this inning as he lasted only three pitches before he was wrung up on a Curve at his kneecaps for the first out.
Swisher followed him by lasting only three pitches as well. He ended up flying out to Byrd in left for the second out.
The adrenaline was flowing now as Aviles stood in as the last man standing between Charlie Brown and the complete game. Aviles made it interesting as he started a twelve pitch battle that kept everyone on the edge of their seats wondering what would happen. On the twelfth pitch Aviles hit a high fly ball that was just that as it went to medium deep left field. Byrd settled under it and squeezed it for the final out of the game, giving Charlie Brown his first major league victory, quality start, and complete game all in one fell swoop.
Charlie Brown was mobbed by his teammates on the mound as they celebrated his first one. Charlie Brown managed to get the ball from Byrd and threw it to his father in right who caught it and hoisted it into the air as the others cheered alongside him at his son's success.
Charlie Brown was then named Player of the Game by the Reds™ broadcasters and was interviewed by their onsite reporter.
"So Charlie Brown it's a big day for you and you go out and throw a complete game in your first major league start! How are you feeling right now?"
"Ecstatic, tired, and relieved. I was really nervous coming into today as I didn't know if I'd be ready for this moment, but I just came out here and gave it my best and look at what happened!"
As the interview continued, Homer popped up out of the dugout with the shaving cream pie on his towel and ran up behind Charlie Brown and smacked it in his face as he was answering the reporter's questions. Cleaning it out of his eyes, he turned and smiled at Homer before high-fiving him and telling him "good one!" as the Texan ran back into the dugout high-fiving the Cincinnati faithful that made the short journey north for the game.
"First pie to the face Charlie Brown, what does it feel like?"
"It feels like victory and camaraderie."
"Go ahead and get cleaned up. Ladies and gentlemen your newest pitcher Charlie Brown! We hope this is the first of many celebrations for years to come."
== Final Stat Line ==
Pitching: Win (1 – 0 on season), 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K's, 1.00 ERA on season, 119 Pitches, 82 Strikes, 37 Balls
== Outside the Clubhouse ==
Charlie Brown was just leaving the clubhouse as he'd just managed to get all of the shaving cream out of his nose and ears as he made his way to the diner not too far from the ballpark where he was to meet his family for the post game celebration.
"Charlie Brown, It's certainly been awhile."
He looked up towards the sound of the voice and he saw a 5' 10'' woman standing in a green pantsuit coupled with a pair of green high heels. He smirked at the thought of confronting another of his past tormentors.
"I could say the same thing to you as well Violet."
AN: And we'll stop it there on a cliffhanger. How will the confrontation with Violet go? You'll have to find out next chapter. Wow that was by far the longest chapter I've written for this site. Love it? Hate it? Drop me a review or PM and let me know I always look forward to hearing from readers as it gives me perspective on how to better improve my writing. Anyway I'll catch you next time. This is "The Nasty One" signing off.
-PRAK #TheNastyOne