Braves defeat Reds in MLB Speedway Classic, event sets attendance record for tickets sold

The MLB Speedway Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds set the all-time regular-season single-game attendance record on Saturday with 91,032 tickets sold for the event at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. 

With that figure, the event surpassed the crowd of 84,587 who were in attendance to see Cleveland host the New York Yankees at Municipal Stadium on Sept. 12, 1954. 

However, Saturday's game was postponed after a 2 1/2-hour rain delay and resumed on Sunday. Under MLB rules, a game does not become official until after five innings have been completed. An official attendance figure for the event was not announced by Major League Baseball, but a noticeably lesser amount of fans returned to the Speedway on Sunday. 

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On the FOX broadcast, John Smoltz estimated that half of the fans ("maybe three-quarters") from Saturday returned to Bristol on Sunday, but that was obviously not an official count. 

According to MLB, fans from the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, nine countries and four continents purchased tickets for the game at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Pregame festivities included a flyover by four U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets from Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach and a ceremonial first pitch featuring Hall of Famers Chipper Jones and Johnny Bench.

Braves won Speedway Classic, 4-2

Reliever Austin Cox ended up starting the game after a 2 1/2-hour rain delay scratched Spencer Strider from pitching for the Braves. The Reds took a 1-0 lead on an Austin Hays RBI single when the game was postponed after the first inning.

The game resumed on Sunday with Elly De La Cruz and Hays stealing bases. De La Cruz was tagged out at home attempting to score on a sharp Miguel Andujar grounder to third base.

However, Atlanta third baseman Austin Riley appeared to hurt himself while stretching to make the tag. He left the game with what the Braves announced as lower abdominal pain. Riley just returned from the injured list with a lower abdominal strain, so it’s possible he re-aggravated that injury.

Eli White gave Atlanta the lead in the top of the second with a 3-run homer off a high changeup from Brent Suter.

Cincinnati closed the margin to 3-2 on a sacrifice fly following Hurston Waldrep loaded the bases on two walks and a single. However, White restored Atlanta's 2-run lead with his second homer of the game in the seventh inning, taking Scott Barlow deep. As the Braves' social media account put it, White is the only MLB player to ever hit two home runs in the state of Tennessee. 

The Reds put the tying run on base in the ninth with Braves closer Raisel Iglesias giving up consecutive singles to TJ Friedl and Matt McLain. But Iglesias retired the next three batters to close out the win for Atlanta. The Braves improved to 47-63, while Cincinnati dropped to 58-54, 3.5 games behind the San Diego Padres for the National League's final wild-card playoff berth. 

Sixth time MLB has had 80,000-plus for a regular-season game

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Only five other games in MLB regular-season history have broken the 80,000 attendance mark, according to the Hall of Fame, with the first happening on Sept. 9, 1928, during a doubleheader between the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees. 

The most recent occurrence was in 1993, when 80,277 watched the Colorado Rockies play their first game at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

As for the postseason single-game attendance record, that is owned by the Los Angeles Dodgers. During the 1959 World Series, 92,706 packed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to watch the Dodgers play the Chicago White Sox in Game 5.