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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Montreal manager Felipe Alou has seen enough
of Rob Bell. The Cincinnati rookie's only two wins in nearly three
months have been against the Expos.
|  | | Cincinnati Reds slugger Ken Griffey Jr. broke out of his longest home run slump of the season with a solo shot in Friday night's victory over Montreal. |
Bell pitched a career-high eight innings Friday night as the
Reds beat Montreal 8-2 with solo home runs by Ken Griffey Jr. and
Pokey Reese.
"This is the second time Bell has impressed me," Alou said.
"He pitched well. He's going to be a big-time pitcher."
Bell (6-7) gave up six hits, walked three and struck out four
for his first win since beating Montreal on June 30, when he
pitched his previous high of 7 2/3 innings. He had one loss and
four no-decisions since then.
"This was not an Academy Award-winning performance by any
means," Bell said. "I wasn't ahead a lot. But when I wasn't, the
defense made great plays behind me, and when I was, we got outs."
Griffey broke a string of 52 at-bats without a home run -- his
longest stretch of the season -- with a solo homer in the fourth.
Griffey's 36th home run came one out after Reese led off the inning
with his 11th homer.
The Reds added another run in the inning on a sacrifice fly by
Benito Santiago to take a 6-2 lead.
Dustin Hermanson (10-12) gave up eight hits, walked five and
struck out four in five innings.
"He wasn't sharp," Alou said. "From our bench, it looked like
he was really throwing the ball well, but the bats were catching up
with it."
Cincinnati got a run in the second when Sean Casey, normally not
a baserunning threat, scored from second on a single by Chris
Sexton to short right field. The Reds added two more in the third
on a double by Casey and an RBI single by Dmitri Young.
Bell led off the sixth with a double -- only his third big league
hit -- went to third on Reese's single and scored on Chris Stynes'
grounder. Santiago made it 8-2 with another sacrifice fly in the
seventh.
Milton Bradley singled and scored for Montreal in the first when
Michael Tucker misplayed Jose Vidro's double to right field.
Michael Barrett singled and scored in the fifth on a sacrifice
bunt, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Peter Bergeron.
The wild pitch was Bell's 10th of the season and a team-record
and major league-high 85th for the Reds.
Game notes
Cincinnati signed first-round draft pick David Espinosa,
18, a shortstop who hit .476 and stole 38 bases for Gulliver Prep
in Miami, Fla., and second-round pick Dane Sardinha, 21, a catcher
who hit .353 with 72 RBIs for Pepperdine University. ... The Reds
recalled LHP Hector Mercado from Triple-A Louisville. He pitched a
scoreless ninth. Cincinnati also reinstated RHP Osvaldo Fernandez
from the 15-day disabled list (sore right elbow). ... Barry Larkin
(.313) has not played since Sunday, when he left the game at
Florida with a dislocated middle finger on his left hand. ...
Montreal activated catcher Lenny Webster, who had gone on the DL on
Aug. 14 with a sore right elbow. He grounded into the game-ending
out as a pinch hitter. ... The Expos began a 13-day, 14-game road
trip _ three in Cincinnati, four in St. Louis, three in Atlanta and
four in three days in Philadelphia. "We have 32 games in 31
days," Alou said. "But that's not our problem. Too many games is
not our problem."
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Montreal Clubhouse
Cincinnati Clubhouse
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