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Chris Nelson was watching when Nick Masset looked down at the ground.
Talk about a heads-up play.
Nelson stole home in the eighth inning to send the Colorado Rockies to a 6-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, completing a four-game series sweep and extending their winning streak to season-best seven games.
With one out and runners on the corners, Nelson broke for home before Masset (3-4) threw his first pitch to Miguel Olivo. Inexplicably, Masset stepped off the mound, whirled to his left and toward second base. "He was just looking right at the ground," Nelson said. "He wasn't paying me any attention. (Third baseman Scott) Rolen was playing back. So I just decided I should just go ahead and go. I didn't stop."
Nelson scored easily to give the Rockies a 6-5 lead. He became the first player to take home for his first career steal since Dan Uggla of the Florida Marlins accomplished the feat on April 21, 2006, against the Philadelphia Phillies, according to STATS LLC. The Rockies, who trailed 5-0 after two innings, had called for a suicide squeeze but it never got that far. "Once I made up my mind I was going, I was going," Nelson said.
Masset, who had made 15 consecutive scoreless appearances, said he came set, stepped off the mound and initially thought Melvin Mora was going to second.
"I turned around and by the time I looked to third base the guys was halfway home and I didn't have a chance to get him," Masset said. "It was a complete mistake on my part. You should check the runner at third right away and go from that. I passed that because normally you get the guy at first who is trying to be sneaky. It was a complete mishap on my part. It is embarrassing, something that should never have happened, just something you never see before."
Cincinnati has dropped five straight overall and its lead in the NL Central was trimmed to five games when St. Louis won 11-4 at Atlanta on Thursday night.