| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
CINCINNATI (AP) -- The bullpen was impeccable and the clutch hits
finally came. The Cincinnati Reds got that feeling they might
finally be rounding into form.
|  | | Sean Casey cleared the bases with his seventh-inning double, giving the Reds a 7-3 lead. |
They just hope it's not too late.
Benito Santiago hit a three-run homer, his first of the month,
and Sean Casey doubled with the bases loaded as the Reds rallied
for a 7-3 victory Wednesday over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Cincinnati won for only the sixth time in 21 games, moving to 7-1/2
behind St. Louis in the NL Central. The Reds have won two of three
in a series that wraps up Thursday.
A team that hasn't won consecutive games since June 3-4 had the
feeling this might be the one that finally gets them going.
"After that (4-3) loss last night which was disappointing, this
one will turn things around," Santiago said. "You're always
looking for something to turn things around."
Until Santiago's sixth-inning swing, it looked like the Reds
were going down once again.
The Cardinals pulled ahead 3-0 in the sixth, silencing a crowd
of 37,861. A banner from the upper deck said, "WE STILL BELIEVE."
Another in the middle deck read, "IT AIN'T OVER."
Instead of June, it felt more like September.
"At this time of year when you're 8-1/2 games back going in, you
can't lose to them head-to-head," Casey said. "I think losing to
them head-to-head would be bad right now."
A decision by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa gave the Reds an
opening to come back.
Pat Hentgen gave up only two singles and twice walked pitcher
Elmer Dessens in five innings. With the Cardinals up 2-0, with two
outs and a runner on third in the sixth inning, La Russa decided to
pinch hit for Hentgen, who had thrown 81 pitches.
The move worked out initially. Larry Sutton drew a walk and
Edgar Renteria's RBI infield single made it 3-0. But it didn't take
long to ultimately backfire.
Hentgen has a tendency to come apart in the middle innings, and
La Russa saw signs it was happening again.
"I thought we had a chance to add a run or two," La Russa
explained. "It looked to me like a couple of balls they hit in the
fifth were up a little bit. As we've seen this year, you'd rather
make the move before than after."
Alan Benes (1-1) retired the first two batters in the sixth,
then gave up a single to Dante Bichette, hit Casey on an 0-2 pitch
and gave up a run-scoring single to Aaron Boone.
"I just made some mistakes," Benes said. "You hope that
doesn't happen, but sometimes you're not going to throw the ball
where you want to. That happened tonight. The hits I gave up were
all on pitches up in the strike zone."
Benes went to a 1-2 count before leaving a fastball over the
plate for Santiago, who was in a 5-for-42 slump. His three-run
homer was his first since May 30.
Tired of making outs with his usual bat, Santiago grabbed one
that belonged to a teammate -- he wouldn't identify him -- and went
to the plate.
"I've been using the same bat for so long and I just put it
away and grabbed a different bat," he said. "I can't use a bat
with my name on it; I was hitting line drives at people with my
bat."
Casey's bases-loaded double in the seventh off Mike Mathews
drove in three more runs. Cincinnati scored all seven of its runs
with two outs off the Cardinals' bullpen.
Dennys Reyes (2-1) struck out four of the five batters he faced
to get the win, and Scott Sullivan pitched the last two innings to
close it out.
Flashbulbs went off every time Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark McGwire
came to bat, but neither got a hit.
After going 4-for-8 with three homers in the first two games of
the series, Griffey flied out three times and took a called third
strike, ending his hitting streak at 11 games.
McGwire fouled out and struck out three times, twice on called
third strikes. He's 1-for-12 with a single and seven strikeouts in
the two games.
The series has turned on homers, with the Cardinals hitting four
and the Reds five. All 12 runs in the first two games scored on
homers.
Dessens, a long reliever making his first start in two years,
gave up three runs on six hits in 5 2-3 innings. Edgar Renteria's
groundout drove in a run in the third, the first run in the series
that didn't result from a homer.
Ray Lankford led off the sixth with his 11th homer off Dessens
and Renteria's RBI infield single off Manny Aybar made it 3-0.
Game notes
A fan who threw a ceremonial first pitch as part of a
promotion overshot catcher Eddie Taubensee and hit the foul screen
behind home on the fly. ... The Cardinals traded reliever Darren
Holmes from Triple-A Memphis to Baltimore. The rest of the deal
hasn't been arranged. ... Dessens was the first Reds pitcher to
draw two walks in a game since Dave Burba on Sept. 10, 1995 in
Colorado. ... Griffey and Barry Larkin, who wore their pants legs
high for good luck in Tuesday's loss, had them back to ankle-length
as the Reds won.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Cincinnati Clubhouse
RECAPS
Baltimore 8
Boston 7
Detroit 13
NY Yankees 6
Toronto 5
Tampa Bay 2
Chi. White Sox 7
Minnesota 3
Kansas City 8
Cleveland 1
Texas 5
Oakland 3
Anaheim 3
Seattle 2
Cincinnati 7
St. Louis 3
Atlanta 7
Montreal 4
Chicago Cubs 5
Pittsburgh 4
NY Mets 6
Florida 5
Philadelphia 9
Milwaukee 7
Colorado 17
San Francisco 13
Arizona 6
Houston 2
Los Angeles 5
San Diego 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Sean Casey and the Reds are just biding their time.
wav: 94 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
