Victor Frazier
Last Tuesday, however, Frazier made everyone forget about his batting woes. In front of an announced crowd of 44,134 with the roof closed on a chilly night (39°F / 4°C), the home team was trailing 4-1 to New Orleans entering the bottom of the ninth. The heart of the order was due up for the Blazers, but plating three runs seemed like a tall order. Third baseman Tom Allen led off; he had doubled in the only Montreal run in the fourth. This time, he hit a routine groundball to second base, but the Crawdad's Tse-peng Fu booted it, allowing Allen to reach base. The fans perked up. Next up was DH Luis Chávez, who is off to a slow start this season. He singled sharply past New Orleans shortstop John McLeod, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of catcher Calvin Johnson. The switch-hitting Johnson settled into the left-hand batter's box and began what became an epic at-bat, working the count full before hitting a Texas Leaguer beyond the reach of second baseman Fu. This loaded the bases and brought up Frazier.
The New Orleans bullpen had been warming up furiously during Johnson's lengthy at-bat, and before Frazier could step to the plate, manager Luis Hernandez slowly strolled out to the mound. After a long consultation with pitcher Ryzard Dziewulski, he signaled for his closer just as the plate umpire reached the huddle by the pitcher's rubber. By this time, Hun Kwok had succeeded in getting ready in the bullpen, and he took little time throwing his eight warm up pitches. At 6'7", the right-handed Kwok is an imposing presence. Up to this point in the season, in four appearances, he had allowed two hits and no walks, earned three saves, while striking out four in 4⅔ innings. Could he get three outs before Montreal scored three runs?
Frazier is not a small man, either. He is 6'4" and all muscle. He dug in the left-handed batter's box and eyed Kwok. He knew that Kwok throws a four-seam fastball that sits around 95 mph and a plus-plus changeup that is very difficult to pick up. He geared up for the fastball and waited. He hoped to put the ball in play before the count got to two strikes. He figured that Kwok would save the changeup until then.
The first pitch was indeed a fastball, but it was up and out of the zone. Like Frazier, Kwok was likely pretty amped up, given the circumstances. Kwok had not walked anyone yet this season, and Victor was not counting on that.
Frazier figured that Kwok didn't want to get to 2-0 with the bases loaded, so he sat dead red. He thought that this might be the best pitch he would see. Kwok was in the windup. He kicked and delivered. The pitch was on the outer half of the plate, belt high, and Frazier swung. He recognized that feeling you get when you barrel up the ball. He knew it was well hit, but Ubisoft is famous for swallowing well hit balls and turning them into loud outs. As he sprinted to first, he figured he had a sacrifice fly for sure. He was watching the ball, but he saw Allen going back to third to tag up out of the corner of his eye. He saw the left fielder sprinting to the warning track and looking up. He was vaguely aware of the crowd roaring.
The ball landed six rows deep in the left field seats. Frazier had hit a grand slam to walk off the game for the Blazers. Victor slowed down and made sure to touch each base. His teammates were waiting for him at the plate as he scored the winning run. This was just like he had imagined it would be, back when he was ten years old playing ball in his backyard.
For one night, no one worried about Frazier hitting .135.