By Mark Sheldon

Lost in the shuffle during a 13–4 Reds win over the Cardinals Monday was a strange play at the plate. In the fourth inning with the Reds trailing, 2–0, runners were on first and third when Brandon Phillips hit a grounder to third base. Chris Heisey tried to score as the fielder’s choice throw came to the plate. During his slide, Heisey missed the plate completely and went into catcher Yadier Molina. It didn’t make much sense at the time.

Heisey, who was tagged for the first out of the inning, explained what happened on Tuesday.

“To be honest with you, I guess for a split-second, I was thinking I needed to take him out so he couldn’t throw Brandon out,” Heisey said. “It was a brain [cramp], that’s all. I went up to Yadi the next at-bat and said ‘I just had a brain [cramp], I wasn’t going after you or anything. I forgot you had to tag me and not just step on the plate.’”

There were no hard feelings from Molina.

“He was actually really nice to me and was like ‘hey dude, don’t worry about it. It happens,’” Heisey said.