C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

With Tuesday's pinch-hit RBI single, Chris Heisey has four hits in 10 pinch-hit at-bats, driving in six runs. That's nothing new for the 29-year-old Heisey, who is hitting .298 with a .361 on-base percentage and .577 slugging percentage as a pinch-hitter.

Recently, he said, he saw he'd passed 100 career pinch-hit at-bats. He entered Wednesday's game, another one he started on the bench, with 104 pinch-hit at-bats and 119 plate appearances.

"That's a lot of pinch-hitting at-bats. I did have success right away, and maybe that could be part of the reason I've been confident doing it. My first week in the big leagues I had a game-tying home run off of Billy Wagner. I thought, 'Hey, maybe I can do this.' I'm prepared, I go in there knowing what the pitcher's got and try to put a good swing on it."

Heisey said he doesn't have a different approach pinch-hitting, but that's due in part to the fact that his approach is usually aggressive, regardless of his role.

"It's always how I've been as a hitter, I've never been a guy who is going to try to work walks," Heisey said. "Sometimes to a fault – I can end up swinging at a pitch early in the count that is best for me, but I think I've learned as I've gotten older to be more selective. ... I'm not content with taking the first pitch down the middle, because that could be the only one you get."

Heisey said he often hears from fans that he should be playing more – and he'd certainly like to.

"There's plenty of guys who haven't gotten a break to be an everyday guy. I've had chances due to injuries for short periods of time, but I've never made the club coming out of camp being told it's your job to lose," Heisey said. "That being said, I'm slowly accruing major league service time, and I'd love to be an everyday player, but so would every bench player."

Of course, for a guy who came from a college in Pennsylvania with just 2,800 students, Heisey said he never loses sight of what he has been able to achieve.

"If you would have told me as a freshman at Messiah College that I'd have four years of service time in the major leagues, I'd have said you were crazy," Heisey said.

PRICE CONFIDENT IN PHILLIPS: While Joey Votto has thrived since being moved to the second spot in the order (.296/.486/.500), his replacement hitting third has struggled with his new spot. Brandon Phillips is hitting just .227/.235/.258 since the move.

"He's a better hitter than he's been in the last week, so I don't have a concern. He's got a huge resume of performance and it'll be something special when he warms up and starts doing what he's capable of doing," Price said. "The great part about veteran players is you always know the track record and you always have something to come back to."

BILLY STILL RUNNING: Billy Hamilton was caught stealing Tuesday for the fifth time this season, but Price said he didn't see slowing Hamilton down anytime soon.

"He's been running fairly early in the count and there are times that those guys we're seeing with other base runners are 1.35, 1.45 (seconds to home), and then Billy gets on and they're 1.18 at the plate," Price said. "That's a difference maker. Even the best of base stealers are going to have a more difficult time stealing on guys with those types of times to the plate.

"The other side of this coin is you see how pitchers rush the ball to the plate. I really believe the hitters ... behind Billy when he's on base are going to get some really good pitches to hit over time, simply by error and using pitches to the plate."