MILWAUKEE — The Cincinnati Reds just keep on running.
Center fielder Billy Hamilton swiped second base in the first inning, giving him an MLB-leading nine of the season, and keeping the Reds a perfect 17-for-17 on stolen base attempts this season.
Their success so far is a franchise record and the best mark to open a season since the Minnesota Twins successfully swiped their first 19 bases in 2007.
While the speedy Hamilton accounts for most of that success, the Reds aren’t the typical “speed team,” but manager Bryan Price said a “selective approach” has made their base-running game much more effective.
“We do a lot of research on our opponent,” Price said. “That’s really how we make our decisions, because we’re not necessarily a speed team beyond Billy; we’re not loaded with guys like Billy.”
The adjusted approach comes as a lesson learned in 2014.
Even though Cincinnati swiped 122 bags last year — the fourth-most in baseball — they were only successful on 70 percent of their attempts, which was 20th in the game. Price said the goal this year is to get to about 80 percent.
“If our success rate over the course of time was … in that 55-65 percent (range), I think you kind of feel like it’s self-defeating,” Price said. “That 80 percent would be a really nice goal to shoot for. It’s hard to attain.”