Reds Respect but Don't Fear Phillies in 7-3 Win

Dusty Baker brought lefthanded reliever, Bill Bray, up from Louisville for this series.

"They have four lefties and two switch hitters," Baker said.  "We feel its necessary to have three lefthanders in the bullpen. You have to respect the Phillies for what they have done.  But we don't fear them."

It turns out the Reds just needed one, Bray, against the defending National League champions.

Johnny Cueto turned in his third straight all-star caliber outing.  He allowed one run in eight innings.  In his last 20 2/3 innings opponents have scored just two runs.  Cueto didn't even need a strikeout as his teammates turned in half a dozen gold glove plays.

Orlando Cabrera made a couple, Brandon Phillips made two, including one that started an inning ending double play in the fourth.  That inning started with Chase Utley hitting a gap shot to rightcenter.  Drew Stubbs cut it off and threw Utley out at secondbase. Ryan Howard doubled and Jayson Werth walked but Phillips backhanded a smash behind second by Raul Ibanez and flipped to Cabrera, who barely nipped Ibanez at first.

Stubbs made a couple nice catches as did Jay Bruce.

"Too much emphasis gets put on strikeouts," Baker said.  "The Phillies are quality hitters.  They are hard to strikeout.  They didn't go to two straight World Series because they couldn't hit.  Johnny made them put the ball in play and got a lot of ground balls.  That keeps his pitch count from getting to high as he is prone to do."

Using his defense was just fine with Cueto.

"I was struggling but I made adjustments," said Cueto, after allowing the leadoff batter reach in the second, third and fourth innings.  "I started concentrating on keeping the ball down.  I really appreciate the way the defense played."

Meanwhile, Kyle Kendrick retired the first 10 Reds' batters.

Until the Reds busted loose.  Cabrera and Joey Votto had three hits.  Votto has now reached base at least once in 36 consecutive games since May 15.  Scott Rolen hit his 17th home run with Votto on base and had a sacrifice fly.  It was the 300th home run of Rolen's career

"I don't know what to think about it," Rolen said.  "I wanted to hit it yesterday.  My mom and dad were here for their 45th wedding anniversary.  It shows what happens when you try to hit them.  But in hindsight it was good because the dinner talk was about them.  Their achievement was better."

Cabrera was struggling at the plate but broke through.  His ankle has been tender but he's played great defense but hit just .155 in his last 18 games.

Bray got the first two, both lefties out but Werth, a righthander singled and Ibanez hit a two-run home run with two out.   Bray struck out former Red, Dane Sardinha to nail down the win.

"It was good for him to get out there," Baker said.  "We had Arthur (Rhodes) warming up until we got the extra run in the eighth to make it a six-run lead.  We decided to get Bill an inning."