Whoo Hoo Reds Win Ohio Cup Retain First Place 6-4

In a war within the state, it was a battle of brother against brother.

The Cleveland Indians claimed Jayson Nix on waivers from the Chicago White Sox on Thursday just before taking on their southern rivals.  The Reds already had older brother Laynce.

General Dusty Baker started Laynce in place of his leading RBI man, Jonny Gomes.

"Masterson (Cleveland starting pitcher Justin) is tough on righthanders.  Nix has a better chance," Baker stated before the intrastate contest.

Cleveland manager Manny Acta started Jayson Nix at secondbase.

The Reds older brother made a nice running catch on Jayson in the second inning but the younger brother got even with a double down the leftfield line in the fourth off Sam LeCure to set up the Tribe's two-run inning.

"It's the first time in the big leagues we played against each other.  We played a few times against each other a couple years ago in Triple A," Nix said.

He does not think that his mom will ground him for stealing a hit from his younger brother.

"You can't switch up the way you play because you're playing your brother," Nix said.  "He hit that one hard. It was fun playing him.  I'm glad we won."

The 3-1 lead held until Masterson, lost mastery in the fifth.  A single by Drew Stubbs and a errant pick off attempt put Stubbs in position to score.  Micah Owings in relief of LeCure singled him home.  Masterson walked the next two batters and Joey Votto's high chop to first got the Reds even.

A bleeding infield hit off the end of Jay Bruce's bat started the sixth. a wild pitch put Bruce on second and Nix, the elder untied the game with a single.  The Reds scored twice more before the inning was done.

"The pitch was his specialty, a sinker away.  I was able to hit it where Jay could score," Nix said.

"We tried to load the lineup with lefties.  Masterson has that sinker to righties and got a lot of ground balls with it. You know you have a good team when you can substitute one guy with another," Baker said.

Daniel Ray Herrara, Arthur Rhodes, who tied a major league record by not allowing a run in his 33rd straight appearance, Nick Masset and Francisco Cordero closed the door.

"The bullpen was the story tonight," LeCure said.  "I didn't have a good game but I can sleep better tonight because we won.  The bullpen was phenomenal."

The Reds took a 4-1 lead in the six-game Ohio Cup series with one game to play.

St. Louis won this afternoon so the victory helped the Reds retain its half game lead in the NL Central.

"The Ohio Cup is fine but its more important that we stay ahead of the Cardinals," Baker said.

The Reds will close interleague play with a winning record.  They are currently 8-6 with Sunday's series finale tomorrow.

When interleague play first started the Indians were perennial contenders.  This season their highwater mark is 0-1.  They lost opening day and that's the closest they've been to .500.