Francona gets his 2,000th managerial victory

CINCINNATI (AP) — Terry Francona has added another milestone to his impressive career. Francona became the 13th manager in major league history to reach 2,000 wins when the Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Sunday. "I don't think I've ever tried to delude myself. I mean some of those names up there are kind of like baseball royalty," Francona said. "If there's an adjective for baseball lifer, it's me. I'm not overly smart. ... I just love the game, probably too much." The Reds paid tribute to Francona in the clubhouse after their final game before the All-Star break. Reliever Brent Suter congratulated Francona and told the manager about a couple gifts from the team. After the players called for a speech, Francona used an expletive to describe how much he loved everyone and then waved them off to their break. Francona, 66, joins Texas' Bruce Bochy as the only active managers with at least 2,000 wins. Bochy was among a handful of baseball figures who congratulated Francona in a video posted by the Reds on social media. Ten of the 12 other managers who have accumulated at least 2,000 wins are in the Hall of Fame. Bochy and Dusty Baker (2,183), who isn't yet eligible, are the only exceptions. Francona is the fourth man to record his 2,000th win for one of the teams from his playing career (he batted .227 in 102 games for the Reds in 1987). The others are Bochy (San Francisco), Bucky Harris (Detroit) and John McGraw (New York Giants). Francona's regular-season record is 2,000-1,719 in 24 seasons. He led Boston to World Series titles in 2004 and '07, and Cleveland to the Fall Classic in 2016. His teams have reached the postseason 11 times. He had a franchise-record 921 wins in 11 years with Cleveland, 744 in seven seasons with Boston and 285 in his first stop at Philadelphia, including his first victory as a skipper on April 1, 1997, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Francona is 50-47 in his first season with Cincinnati after signing a three-year deal with a club option for 2028. "We knew it was coming," Suter said. "I saw 1,950 was his win count before he came out of retirement for us. I was like 'Ooh, hopefully we can get that in the first half and feel really good about it,' and we waited until the very end but we got it in the first half. Such a special moment." Francona's 500th win in 2007 and 1000th in 2011 came while managing the Red Sox. Victory No. 1,500th was on May 3, 2018, when Cleveland defeated Toronto. "I've said it since spring training. It's an honor to be able to play for him," said Emilio Pagán, who picked up the save on Sunday. "And so to be the guy to close out the 2,000th win, it felt cool." ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb