Billy Hamilton eluded a rundown tag Devin Bush Jersey , and the Cincinnati Reds escaped with a victory.

”Billy showed his athleticism and got out of that jam there and set it up for Joey,” Reds manager Jim Riggleman said.

Hamilton got hung up between third and home when pitcher Kevin McCarthy (4-3) tipped Tucker Barnhart’s line drive with his glove. McCarthy picked up the ball behind the mound and threw home, and Hamilton looked done until he sidestepped Alcides Escobar’s tag and dived back safely into third base to leave the bases loaded with one out.

”I see the guy running back toward third base, I said, `Gimme the ball,”’ Escobar said. ”When I tried to tag him I thought, `Oh my God, where did the guy go?’ That was a great move right there.”

Hamilton’s speed and maneuvering set up the victory.

”That goes down as one of the more crazy things I’ve seen him do,” said Barnhart, who homered in the ninth to tie it.

Royals manager Ned Yost argued with third base ump Jeff Nelson that Hamilton ran out of the base path.

”In their judgment he didn’t leave the baseline,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”I said, `In my judgment he did. Can you check with Laz (Diaz, plate umpire)?’ Laz was of the same opinion. You don’t really have much ground there.”

Votto then tripled on a 2-1 count to the right-center wall, and Eugenio Suarez singled home Votto.

”I was looking for a quality pitch that I could put a little air on http://www.steelerscheapauthenticstore.com/diontae-johnson-jersey-cheap ,” Votto said. ”Can’t hit the ball on the ground there. Can’t hit it too shallow. I got a good pitch and put a good swing on it.”

Dave Hernandez (2-0) hit a batter and struck out two.

Barnhart drove a 2-2 pitch by Kelvin Herrera over the right-field fence into in the Royals’ bullpen to lead off the ninth.

It was Herrera’s second blown save in 16 opportunities.

After Barnhart’s home run, Herrera walked Votto for his first walk of the season in his 27th relief appearance. He also walked Jesse Winker with two outs before retiring Adam Duvall on a groundball to end the inning.

Ian Kennedy, who has won one of his last 27 home starts, pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three singles. He was removed after 104 pitches and the Royals holding a 1-0 lead.

”I leave it up to the staff to make that decision, not me,” Kennedy said on coming back for the ninth. ”I kind of felt like Kelvin has been so good this year I imagined that was probably my last inning.”

Kennedy retired 12 straight after navigating his way out of a bases-loaded jam to end the second.

The Reds loaded the bases in the second inning on Scooter Gennett’s leadoff single and walks by Suarez and Duvall. Kennedy got out of that jam when Jose Peraza flied out to center fielder Abraham Almonte, who threw out Gennett attempting to score.

Hunter Dozier led off the fifth with a 425-foot homer to left on a 2-2 pitch by Sal Romano.

That was the only hiccup for Romano. He allowed only three singles outside of Dozier’s home run in eight innings.

The Royals have dropped eight of nine and have lost 22 of 32 home games.

SPELLING LESSON

The Kaufman Stadium scoreboard spelled the opposing team as ”Cincinatti.”

ROSTER MOVES

Royals: RHP Justin Grimm (low back stiffness) was recalled from his minor league injury rehab with Triple-A Omaha and activated. The Royals optioned rookie RHP Trevor Oaks to the Storm Chasers. OF Jorge Bonifacio, who is finishing an 80-game suspension, will begin a minor league rehab assignment Tuesday with Omaha. Major League Baseball suspended Bonifacio for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: RHP Homer Bailey (right knee inflammation) allowed five runs on six hits in three innings in a rehab start Sunday for Triple-A Louisville. All the runs scored in the fifth when Bailey allowed two doubles and a triple. ”I talked to (Louisville bench coach) Dick Schofield and he basically said the first two innings looked good and then he got hit hard,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said.

Royals: Jorge Soler (bruised left big toe) returned to the lineup for the first time since Friday.

UP NEXT

Reds: RHP Tyler Mahle has allowed two earned runs over 10 innings in his first two June starts, going 1-0.

Royals: RHP Jason Hammel is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA in his past four starts.

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The Buffalo Bills’ long-awaited playoff appearance might not have been so short-lived had their coaching staff played the percentages and not a hunch in their 10-3 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. On first-and-goal from the Jaguars 1, coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Rick Dennison elected to call a run-pass option instead of asking quarterback Tyrod Taylor to either run it in himself or hand it off to running back LeSean McCoy against one of the most vulnerable run defenses in the playoffs. ”I want a running play,” McCoy said. ”It was a play I was lobbying for the whole time and it didn’t work out …” Instead, Taylor lofted a fade pass toward the left corner of the end zone where Kelvin Benjamin was whistled for offensive pass interference on All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey Justin Layne Jersey , pushing the Bills back 10 yards. The drive stalled from there and Stephen Haushka’s 31-yard field goal was all the Bills had to show for their 18-play, 71-yard drive that took 8:06, their only decent drive all game. McDermott also botched the end of the first half by calling pass plays on second-and-6 at his 14 (incomplete) and the next down (5-yard completion to Zay Jones in which he was pushed out of bounds). Instead of taking a knee and heading to the locker room with a 3-0 lead, the Bills gave the Jaguars the ball back with enough time to get into field goal range and score and gain some momentum heading into the locker room. The Bills’ curious play call, however, paled in contrast to the series of odd calls by referee Jeff Triplette’s playoff crew in Kansas City, where the Tennessee Titans overcame an 18-point halftime deficit to shock the Chiefs 22-21. ”Horrible way to start the playoffs,” tweeted Mike Pereira , the former NFL officiating chief turned Fox sports analyst. ”I hate to say it, but this was not a good performance by the crew. Teams and fans deserve better.” A day later, Pereira praised both Tony Corrente’s crew in New Orleans and John Hussey’s crew in Jacksonville, adding, ”Yesterday is a memory. I feel bad for Jeff Triplette. He is a great man who was part of a crew that did not have a good game. I feel bad that he is retiring under this cloud.” After Marcus Mariota caught his own deflected pass for a touchdown Saturday, Triplette explained that the Titans quarterback was an eligible receiver because he had lined up in the shotgun formation rather than under center. There is no such rule in the NFL. Whenever a defensive player deflects a pass, every offensive player is allowed to catch the ricochet http://www.steelerscheapauthenticstore.com/benny-snell-jr.-jersey-cheap , including the quarterback and it matters not where he lined up when the play began. Then, there was the very quick whistle that negated a fumble recovery by Justin Houston after fellow linebacker Derrick Johnson sacked Mariota in the second quarter. Mariota fumbled a split-second after contact, but Triplette said the QB’s forward progress had been stopped before the fumble. Forward progress is usually called when a running back is stopped and defenders are piling on him or several defenders drape a quarterback. Hardly ever is it applied when a QB is going to the ground on initial contact by a single defender. As a judgment call, Chiefs coach Andy Reid was helpless to throw his red challenge flag, and Ryan Succop kicked a field goal on the next play. ”The defender hit him and he was driving him back,” Triplette said after the game. The officials had one more gaffe in them, one that was corrected on replay review. The crew initially called a fumble on Titans running back Derrick Henry late in the fourth quarter, signaling touchdown when Johnson scooped up the ball and rumbled into the end zone as fireworks lit up the sky. The replays showed he was down before the ball came loose. Before wild-card weekend began, there were several notable calls concerning the Cincinnati Bengals. Bills fans giddy over Buffalo ending the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports made a surge in donations to Andy Dalton’s foundation , their way of thanking the Bengals QB for his role in the Bills’ first invitation to the postseason party in 17 years. Dalton’s foundation received more than $300,000 in donations after the Bengals beat the Ravens 31-27 in the regular-season finale when Dalton threw a 49-yard TD pass with 44 seconds left to eliminate Baltimore and open a spot for Buffalo. ”I think I’m the hottest guy in Buffalo right now,” Dalton said. While the Bills’ long streak of playoff futility is over, the Bengals’ streak continues. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 1990 season, the sixth-longest streak of postseason futility in NFL history. They’ve lost all seven of their playoff games since that season, including an NFL-record five straight first-round defeats from 2011-15. The Bengals missed out on the playoffs for a second straight season Zach Gentry Jersey , going 7-9. They won their last two games, knocking the Lions and Ravens out of the playoff race. That was enough for owner Mike Brown to give coach Marvin Lewis a two-year extension and two more chances to try to get the Bengals that playoff victory that has eluded him for 15 seasons. Lewis has the second-longest active coaching tenure in the NFL, behind only Bill Belichick’s 18 seasons with New England. Unlike Belichick, who has won five Super Bowls and made two other appearances in the title game, Lewis is 0-7 in the playoffs, the worst such coaching record in NFL history. In Denver, John Elway thought long and hard about canning coach Vance Joseph after a 5-11 debut but decided to stick with him. However, Joseph fired a half dozen assistants, saying it was time to change the culture ”so we could get back to pushing our players to be the best that they can be.” All six of the fired coaches directed rookies who underperformed in 2017, so they’re the ones shouldering the blame for Elway’s so-far dismal draft class. Elway said at his season-ending news conference he’s not perfect and always striving to learn, but he took a jab at a reporter , suggesting that when he finally has this front office football job perfected, he’ll retire and go into radio because then he’ll be a fellow know-it-all. —