Atlanta – The Rocket got rocked by the rookie. Then, while Roger Clemens shuffled uncomfortably on the mound, Brian McCann emerged from the Atlanta Braves dugout for a most unexpected curtain call.
“I was just sitting back letting him enjoy it over there,” Clemens said. “What else can you do?”
McCann hit a three-run homer off Clemens in his first postseason at-bat, sending John Smoltz and the Braves to a 7-1 victory over the Houston Astros on a drizzly Thursday night, tying their best-of-five National League division series at one game apiece.
Smoltz picked up where he left off six years ago, pitching seven strong innings in his first October start since the 1999 World Series.
“There’s a thousand emotions going through my head right now,” he said. “I’m going to sleep a long time tonight.”
While Smoltz’s performance was a long time in the making – he spent the past four postseasons as a closer – it was hardly unexpected for someone who has long been one of baseball’s best big-game pitchers.
Smoltz broke a one-day tie with Houston’s Andy Pettitte to reclaim the title of baseball’s winningest postseason pitcher, improving to 7-0 in the division series and 15-4 overall.
Then there’s McCann, who was batting in the playoffs for the first time when he stepped to the plate in the second inning with two on and two outs.
McCann was less than three months old when Clemens made his major-league debut for the Boston Red Sox in 1984. Now, the two were face to face – a video game-playing catcher who started the season with Double-A Mississippi versus a seven-time Cy Young Award winner who stopped off in Houston on his way to Cooperstown.
“Logic would say Roger has the upper hand in that situation,” Atlanta’s Chipper Jones said wryly.
Not this time. With Smoltz on deck, Clemens missed with his first two pitches, then left a fastball over the plate. McCann connected with a 409-foot drive that ricocheted into the Braves’ bullpen in right field for a 3-1 lead.
“A very hittable pitch,” Clemens said. “When a guy’s at this level, it doesn’t matter if he’s 21 or 41. He’s going to hit that.”
McCann was urged back on the field by manager Bobby Cox, tipping his cap to the roaring crowd after becoming the first player in Braves history (including Boston and Milwaukee) to homer in his first trip to the plate in the postseason.
McCann also joined Clemens in a more obscure record: biggest age gap between a pitcher and a batter who hit a postseason homer – 21 years and 200 days, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Another of the 18 rookies to play for the Braves this season, reliever Macay McBride, caught the home run ball in the bullpen and delivered it to McCann after the game.
“That won’t sink in for a while,” McCann said. “(Clemens) is one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He just got a pitch over the plate and I connected. It was neat.”
Clemens left after the fifth, his line showing five runs, six hits, three walks and only two strikeouts. It equaled the most earned runs he allowed during a regular-season game.
