CINCINNATI -- Sometimes it's not the message you hear, but from whom you hear that message. Zack Cozart just needed a friendly reminder from home.
The Reds shortstop had gotten off to a great start at the plate this season. He was hitting .321, getting on base nearly 37 percent of the time and had a slugging percentage of .541 back on May 14 but, then like the rest of the team, he fell into a lull. A 3-for-37 lull.
He called back home to Tennessee to talk to Andy Simunic, who was a high school teammate of Cozart and Cozart's best man. What's a best man for if he can't help you through a slump?
Cozart followed up a three-hit night Friday in a 5-2 win over Washington with the key hit of the game Saturday as the Reds rallied from a 5-2 deficit to beat the Nationals for the second straight day, 8-5. Cozart's two-out, two-run double with the bases loaded off of reliever Casey Janssen in the eighth inning gave the Reds a 6-5 lead.
The eighth inning has been a nightmare inning for the Reds this season but not on Saturday. Instead of its bullpen failing to protect a lead, this time it was the Reds' offense that came back off an opposing bullpen. The Reds hadn't rallied to win a game in which they trailed by more than two runs all season until Saturday.
Cozart's drive over the head of center fielder Denard Span changed that.
"This game is crazy," said Cozart. "I can play so well and feel so good at the plate for a month and a half and then for a week straight you lose it or something. I talked to my best friend back home (Simunic) and he was like 'Dude, you can't let one week ruin how good you've played for the month and half before that week.'"
It's not as if Cozart didn't know that. It's not as if no one else around the Reds hadn't told him the same thing.
Sometimes it's just a matter of where the message comes from.
"I call him a lot about baseball," said Cozart.
Cozart is now hitting .271 for the season with an OBP of .326 and slugging .452. His six home runs already eclipse his total of four from last season and he has 15 extra-base hits in 155 at-bats this season, compared to just 27 in 506 at-bats last season.
"I've said it before but it's always fun to see guys that are this invested have success, especially coming off a tough year like Zack had," said manager Bryan Price. "He just shows up and plays hard and at the end of the day when we win he's got a big smile on his face. If he's 0-for-4 or if he smokes a two-run double to give us the lead off a really good relief pitcher in Janssen. It was really big. I don't know if I can stress the importance of that."
Billy Hamilton followed Cozart's double with a two-run single of his own after the Nationals intentionally walked pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker. That gave the Reds a three-run cushion with Aroldis Chapman coming in to close things out.
Cozart was hitting seventh in the lineup Saturday after leading off on Friday. The double was his only hit. He had a chance to tie the game in the sixth inning but he struck out against reliever Blake Treinen with Brayan Pena on third base and the Reds trailing 5-4.
He got a second chance in the eighth inning and made the most of it.
"That's something that feels really good because we didn't have that for 10 or 11 straight games," said Cozart.
