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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Jeff Bagwell said all along the Houston Astros
would start playing like a good team. He never thought it would be
the end of July before his words came true.
Bagwell hit a two-run homer in the ninth as the Astros pulled
off a second straight comeback and beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-4
Tuesday night, extending their season-best winning streak to four.
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"It hasn't happened all year," Bagwell said. "We kept saying
we were going to play better baseball at some point because we're
better than that. We're finally starting to show some sign of it."
The Astros' best stretch of the season has come at the worst
time for the Reds, who had chopped a 10-game deficit in half and
were starting to daydream about a playoff run.
Instead, their bullpen blew a three-run lead for the second
night in a row, dropping them 6½ games behind St. Louis in the NL
Central.
"It wasn't very pretty," manager Jack McKeon said. "We had
the lead but we couldn't hold them. Once again, bases on balls
killed us. When it rains it pours, don't it? We've seen that
before."
An against-the-book decision by McKeon played a key role in the
Astros comeback.
Houston cut it to 4-3 with sacrifice flies by Bagwell and Lance
Berkman in the seventh off Scott Sullivan, who was still in the
game when Mitch Meluskey came to bat with a runner on first and two
outs in the eighth.
At that point, McKeon had a choice. He could stick with
Sullivan, a right-hander who had pitched two innings the previous
night and looked tired. Or he could bring in left-hander Ron
Villone, who was warming up.
McKeon decided to stay with Sullivan, allowing the
switch-hitting Meluskey to bat from his favorite side. Meluskey
bats .320 and has hit all of his 17 doubles and 11 homers from the
left side. He's hitting only .171 right-handed.
"Sully had been getting the guys out," McKeon said. "We would
do that (bring in Villone) if we knew it would work."
Leaving Sullivan in backfired. Meluskey doubled to the wall in
right-center, allowing Julio Lugo to score from first for the tie.
"That's the big hit of the game," Bagwell said. "To get back
to even going into the ninth -- that's what you need to do."
Astros manager Larry Dierker was surprised that Sullivan got to
face Meluskey. For one thing, Sullivan has pitched a lot lately -- 6
1/3 innings while appearing in four of the last five games.
"I don't know how much Sullivan has pitched lately, but by his
body English, just looking at him, he about looked like he was on
his last gasp just trying to get guys out," Dierker said.
Sullivan admitted he didn't have much.
"I don't know if I made one pitch tonight," Sullivan said. "I
felt like I was in Little League out there, just throwing the ball.
I had absolutely nothing on it. I gave it all I had. It wasn't good
enough."
Villone (8-7) gave up Craig Biggio's leadoff single and
Bagwell's 27th homer to open the ninth, giving him a homer in four
of his last five games. Chris Truby's double in just front of Ken
Griffey Jr. -- the center fielder pulled up at the last moment -- drove in another run.
The Astros got their first three-game winning streak of the
season Monday night by piling up three runs off closer Danny Graves
for a 7-5, 10-inning win.
Marc Valdes (2-2) pitched out of a threat in the eighth and
pitched the ninth, finishing a game that started ominously for the
Astros staff.
The Reds pulled ahead 4-1 after six innings on three homers off
Jose Lima, who leads the majors in giving them up. Chris Stynes led
off the first with a homer and Griffey hit a two-run shot, his
31st, to break out of his longest stretch without a homer this
season. Griffey hadn't homered since July 13, going 11 games and 43
at-bats without one.
Sean Casey hit a two-out homer in the sixth that padded the lead
to 4-1 and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games.
It was the 32nd homer allowed this season by Lima, two shy of his
franchise record in 1998.
Reds reliever-turned-starter Scott Williamson struck out a
career-high eight batters in six innings, forcing the Astros to
strand five runners in scoring position as he turned the three-run
lead over to the bullpen.
Game notes
Houston manager Larry Dierker holds the franchise career
record for giving up homers -- 177 from 1964-76. ... Williamson
threw three wild pitches, giving the Reds 72 this season, most in
the majors and third-most in franchise history. Williamson has
thrown 17 wild pitches, most in the NL. ... Dmitri
Young extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a fourth-inning
single. ... OF Austin Kearns went 0-for-3 for Class A Dayton on
Tuesday night, ending his streak of homering in eight consecutive
games, a Midwest League record. Kearns was the Reds' top draft pick
in 1998.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Houston Clubhouse
Cincinnati Clubhouse
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