New York Mets starting pitcher Chris Young had to feel like George Armstrong Custer with baserunners surrounding him like the Sioux at the Little Big Horn. Maybe at 6'10" he felt like Gulliver tied by rope with Reds players all around him.
Bruce's home run to the first row of the leftfield stands ended a night of frustration in which the Reds left 14 runners stranded.
"I was just trying to hit the ball hard," said the All-Star right fielder, who went into the game hitting just .220 with four homers and 12 runs batted in in 24 games since Votto left the lineup with a left knee injury.
"When you get guys on base, you want to keep getting guys on base until something happens," Bruce said.
Unlike Custer, Young survived as the Reds stranded 11 runners under his command. The home team was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position until he left the game with bases loaded in the sixth inning. Ramon Ramirez made the Reds 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position by coaxing a routine ground out by Drew Stubbs.
The Reds did hit into some hard luck in the fifth. Stubbs opened the inning with a single but was doubled off when Daniel Murphy bagged a hard line drive from Phillips with Stubbs running. The travesty was that Ryan Ludwick scorched a double into the left field corner that would have scored Ernie Lombardi, let alone Stubbs.
Meanwhile back at the ranch as we continue this western theme against the east coast New Yorkers, Mat Latos was throwing zeroes the size of the Empire State Building. The Mets got nothing in seven innings. His most harrowing escape was from a bases loaded jam, created by the first two Mets reaching in the fourth. Big Matt Young drilled a pitch belying his .158 pitcher's batting average. Brandon Phillips took two steps to his right and leaped three feet in the air to snare the drive for the final out, extricating the Reds from the predicament.
"I hit the ball hard," Young said. "Brandon Phillips is a great secondbaseman. If he's not the best he's right there."
Another trio of useless base runners was stranded by the Mets Bobby Parnell as Ryan Hanigan grounded out with the bases loaded in the seventh, bringing the stranded runner total to 14.
Sean Marshall relieved Latos after the latter fired seven scoreless innings.
A running catch by Stubbs snuffed a two-out Met rally. Jose Arredondo, the winning pitcher, got two quick outs then walked Josh Thole. Pinch hitter Scott Hairtson singled off the wall in left, then stole second. Ruben Tejada lined to center but Stubbs gloved it at knee level while charging hard.
Manny Acosta, the Mets' fifth pitcher, started the ninth. Phillips walked for the third time in the game. Ludwick lined a single to left for his second hit of the night. New York manager Terry Collins called for his lone lefty Josh Edgin to face Jay Bruce, looking for his second hit of the game. Bruce tagged his fourth career walk-off home run to extend the Reds' winning streak to four games.
He rewarded his manager for giving him a strategic breather.
"That's great for us and great for him," Baker said. "That's great for his confidence. He's had chances. He just hadn't been swinging the bat well. We'd like to get him swinging well."
The Pittsburgh Pirates went down hard to the Los Angeles Dodger coming up on the short end of an 11-0 whitewash. The Reds now hold a season-high six-game lead on the NL Central.
Reds' pitchers have not allowed a run in the last 25 innings.
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| Professionally edited by ML Schirmer for proofreading services Call 513-240-3120 |
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