Joey Votto, Reds players kneel as MLB anthem protests spread

Kneeling during the national anthem is no longer an NFL thing. It’s spreading into Major League Baseball, too.

Before Tuesday’s exhibition game at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, four Reds players took the knee during “The Star Spangled Banner.”

According to photos taken at the game with the Detroit Tigers, the four players were Joey Votto, Amir Garrett, Phillip Ervin and Alex Blandino.

Three other players who stood during the anthem put their hands on their teammates in a gesture of support.

Mike Moustakas and Cory Reed each put one hand on the shoulder of, respectively, Ervin and Garrett. Sal Romano’s hand was on Blandino’s back.

All four players have worn Black Lives Matter T-shirts during spring-training games. Ervin and Garrett are African-Americans, the only two on the team.

It wasn’t the first protest of the national anthem in the post-lockdown baseball pre-season. The regular season starts Thursday night.

Several members of the San Francisco Giants, including manager Gabe Kapler, knelt during the anthem before their game Monday, and a Los Angeles Angels pitcher both took a knee and held up his right fist, the “Black Power” salute.

The Reds themselves gave an official endorsement Tuesday, tweeting a photo of the four kneeling players with the word “Unity” and a “heart / love” symbol.