The Reds needed innings from Bronson Arroyo to rest his battered bullpen. Arroyo gave him eight strong innings, marred only by a two-run, game tying home run by Chase Utely, a pinch hitter.
The Reds faced a tough customer in Cliff Lee.
The Reds broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the seventh with two runs. Joey Votto, who was on base three times, singled to open the seventh. Brandon Phillips doubled down the leftfield line against Lee, who was Phillips teammate in two organizations, the Montreal Expos and the Cleveland Indians.
Lee uncharacteristically threw a wild pitch that scored Votto. Jay Bruce battled after falling behind 0-2 and took a 10-pitch walk. Todd Frazier delivered Phillips with a deep fly to right.
Frazier was robbed of an earlier run batted in when Ben Revere made a diving catch of his long fly to centerfield in the second inning. Revere doubled Bruce, who was convinced the ball was over his head.
The Reds have been going through a tough period with a short bullpen, Jonathan Broxton and Sam LeCure were not available. The short bullpen gave up a five-run lead on Sunday.
An 'oh no' moment was due. Chase Utley not in the lineup after going 2-for-14 in the last series hit for Lee with two outs and Dominic Brown on second base. Utley hit a 2-1 pitch from Arroyo over the centerfield wall to tie the game.
"That was big. I talked to Bronson yesterday. I said we need some innings out of you tomorrow," Dusty Baker said. "He said I know. It was a pitcher's duel all the way because Lee was dealing too. We had quite a few "at em" balls all night. We thought some of these have to fall. The centerfielder was robbing us. They tied it up and you try not to think, 'oh no, here we go again.' "
"I told Brandon, 'you're going to win the game'," Baker said.
Baker was a prophet.
Derrick Robinson, who like every other player was wearing the number 42 to honor Jackie Robinson, bunted for a single to lead off the eighth for the Reds. He was batting for Arroyo. Shin-Soo Choo bunted him to second. Zack Cozart flairred a double to send Robinson to third. The Phillies walked Votto to load the bases and Phillips drove them home with a single to right.
"I told him that was some Jackie Robinson stuff. That was apprapo. He won it with his legs and scored the winning run. That was big," Baker said.
"I understand the strategy. I had a chip on my shoulder," Phillips said.
"Dusty must be related to Miss Cleo or something. He's been money on predictions like that. We were talking about Robinson in the dugout, like Robinson number 42 scored on Jackie Robinson day. It's a beautiful thing," Phillips said.
Arroyo had a blast while picking up his teammates.
"It was a super fun game. I think the older I get the more you can appreciate competing sometimes regardless of the results of the game," Arroyo said. "In a ballgame like that had it gotten away and I lost 4-2, it's never fun but when you go against a guy like Cliff Lee, who has been the best over the last five years, it's fun. Your putting zeroes on the board and he's putting zeroes on the board, it's cool out and you're not sweating too much. Either way it went it would have been a fun game. It was a great that we got a win."
Arroyo who prides himself on pitching 200 innings a year was happy to give them to his team.
"Dusty said he needed me bad. I assumed that meant go deep in the ballgame and get a 'W' out of it," Arroyo said. "This team (Philadelphia) has been tough on us since I've been in this uniform. They gave me a pinch of breathing room by not having Utley in the lineup tonight. Sometimes something like that can give you a bit of an edge. We scored two which was great because those guys stole a couple runs from us (Revere's catch.)
Arroyo also recalled his days in Boston on the day of the tragedy at the Marathon this afternoon.
"I've been out to that Marathon. I pitched the day of it and went out to the finish line. It's a terrible situation. When you're a runner, not a lot of people think about this because we're worried about lives but there were people that trained two years for the event and got cut short before it finished. It is going to leave a stain on the back bay for awhile. This is going to change the landscape on Marathon Monday which is sad. I pitched against the Blue Jays one day and a lot of players went there because Curt Schilling's wife was running in it and Mike Timlin's wife," Arroyo said.
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