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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Junior and the Reds are relieved to finally be
done with the junior circuit for a while.
|  | | Reds' pitcher Manny Aybar is elated after getting the last out of Sunday's victory. |
Ken Griffey Jr.'s three-run homer in the eighth inning tied it
and Aaron Boone's two-run single in the 13th helped Cincinnati snap
a season-high, five-game losing streak with a 7-5 victory over the
Cleveland Indians.
Caught in the middle of an early AL Central race between Chicago
and Cleveland, the Reds were in jeopardy of being swept, going 0-6
in interleague play and facing a long flight to San Francisco
before they rallied.
"It does a lot," Griffey said. "We avoided a sweep. We
battled our butts off to win the game. It says a lot about the guys
in the locker room that we didn't give up."
Boone's base hit off Scott Kamieniecki (1-3) completed the Reds'
comeback that began when they scored five runs in the eighth to tie
it 5-all.
"This one could get us on a roll," said Boone. "It was a very
important win. The way we've been going, to come back from down 5-0
and get a win was huge. We needed it badly."
Griffey singled leading off the 13th and Michael Tucker followed
with a perfectly placed bunt between the mound and first base.
Second baseman Roberto Alomar, who didn't start because of a
sore left wrist and entered in the 11th as a pinch-runner, fielded
the bunt cleanly but foolishly tried to make a behind-the-back
throw to Kamieniecki covering the bag and the ball went into
Cincinnati's dugout.
"He bunted it in just the right spot. There was nobody there,"
said Alomar. "I thought that was the only chance I had, but I
should have kept it."
After an intentional walk, Boone singled down the left-field
line to make it 7-5 and the Reds won for just the fourth time in 11
games.
"For a couple of days we weren't getting the breaks," said
Griffey. "But the guys came through when we needed it."
Manny Aybar (1-2), Cincinnati's fifth pitcher, worked two
innings for the win.
Richie Sexson homered and Kenny Lofton reached base six of seven
times for the Indians.
Both teams blew excellent scoring chances earlier. The Indians
stranded 14 runners and left the bases loaded in the bottom of the
10th when Omar Vizquel hit into an inning-ending double play.
"We left guys on third," said Indians manager Charlie Manuel.
"We had all kinds of chances. We had chances to put up a lot of
runs today and didn't get it done."
Shut out on one hit through seven innings by Chuck Finley, the
Reds scored five in the eighth, tying it on Griffey's three-run
shot to straightaway center off Justin Speier.
Finley had retired 18 of 19 before tiring and Boone doubled to
start the eighth and Chris Stynes singled. A wild pitch on ball
four to Benito Santiago pushed across Cincinnati's first run and
chased Finley, who lost a shutout in the ninth in his last start.
"He just ran out of gas," Manuel said.
Steve Reed, who had allowed only one hit in his last nine
appearances, gave up a sacrifice fly that made it 5-2 and was
replaced by Speier after giving up a two-out single to Barry
Larkin.
Without a left-handed reliever available in his bullpen because
of injuries, Indians manager Charlie Manuel decided to bring in
Speier, who had struck out Griffey in Friday's win.
But Speier grooved a 2-0 fastball to Griffey, who hit it into
the picnic area beyond the center-field wall for his 18th homer. Of
Griffey's 18 homers, 11 have either tied games or put the Reds
ahead.
"It wasn't a good pitch," Speier said. "I was trying to get
it down and away and I didn't. That's what happens when you make a
pitch like that to a hitter like him."
Cincinnati's rally wasted a strong start by the 37-year-old
Finley, who went 1-4 during May but has been dominant in his two
starts this month. He walked two and struck out two.
Jim Thome and Lofton had RBI singles in the second off Reds
starter Ron Villone.
Cleveland made it 4-0 in the sixth on Enrique Wilson's sacrifice
fly and were seemingly in control in the seventh when Sexson
connected for his third homer of the series and 13th this season.
Game
notes
Cleveland leads the baseball battle of Ohio, 9-6. ...
Griffey has a major league-high 23 homers in interleague play. ...
Fryman played first base for the first time in his career (1,384
games) in the 11th when Manuel had to make several defensive
switches. ... Reds OF Dante Bichette left with a sprained right
ankle in the fourth. Bichette rolled his ankle while sliding back
into second base on a pickoff attempt in the second. ... The
sellout was the 400th straight at Jacobs Field. The last time the
Indians didn't play in front of a full house was on June 7, 1995,
against Detroit.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Cincinnati Clubhouse
Cleveland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cincinnati 7
Cleveland 5
St. Louis 7
Detroit 3
Toronto 8
Montreal 3
Boston 5
Atlanta 3
Tampa Bay 7
Florida 6
Baltimore 7
Philadelphia 2
Chicago Cubs 6
Chi. White Sox 5
Pittsburgh 10
Kansas City 6
Milwaukee 5
Minnesota 3
Colorado 9
Texas 8
Seattle 9
San Francisco 2
Oakland 6
Los Angeles 0
Arizona 3
Anaheim 2
NY Mets 0
NY Yankees 0
San Diego 4
Houston 1
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