Cold Weather Hot Reds Beat Cubs 7-4

It looked like Homer Bailey was cold when he walked three batters in the first inning.  It looked like the Reds offense was cold through five innings when the only hit off Carlos Zambrano came when Bailey beat out a hit to right field.

That's right beat out a hit to right field.  Kosuke Fukodome fielded the ball in shallow right and had a play at first but Homer was safe.

"I was off a little bit mechanically," Bailey said.  "I was able to fix it on the fly.  I wish it didn't take me three batters to do it."

Bailey escaped the first inning. Reds starting pitchers have struggled at the start of games this season.  In 41 games the Reds starters have enjoyed a 1-2-3 just eight times.

"Homer's learned how to pitch out of trouble.  That's the sign of a good pitcher," Dusty Baker said.
Bailey managed to struck out Fukodome to begin the game but walked Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro and Aramis Ramirez in sequence.   Then the righthander making just his third start, since returning from a healed right shoulder, fanned Alfonso Soriano and Marlon Byrd.

Barney's single in the third was all the Cubs had to show for the next three innings.  Koyie Hill singled him to third.  Zambrano, who can handle the bat, hit a high chop that Rolen had to leap to field. Scott  Rolen threw home and Barney stopped anticipating a rundown but the ball eluded catcher Ryan Hanigan.  Cubs came to rest at seccond and third before the ball was retrieved.

Barney singled in Zambrano with two outs.  Pena hit a two-run home run in the sixth.

Bailey finished the inning but Miguel Cairo pinch hit for him in the bottom of the inning.

"It could have been worse but I knew somehow, someway we would get back in it," Bailey said.

The Reds sixth not only proved him correct but made him the winning pitcher to reward his faith.

Cairo struck out.  Drew Stubbs singled.  Edgar Renteria walked.  Then the sky fell in on Zambrano.

Joey Votto singled to score Stubbs.  Brandon Phillips shot a ball through the infield to score Renteria.  Jay Bruce plated Votto with a hit.  Rolen doubled to tie the game.  Zambrano, who didn't know what hit him, was replaced on the mound but had one more throw in him.  It was his glove against the Cubs' dugout wall.  Reliever Marcos Mateo entered to face a struggling, frustrated Jonny Gomes, who had recently shaved his mohawk.  Mateo's first pitch was up, in and off the glove of Hill's to the wall Bruce raced home with the go-ahead run.

Gomes then did something he hadn't done since April 17th.  He reached the seats in right center that landed so close to the first row that Gomes didn't know it left the yard.  He stopped at second, presumably to ask directions home.  The umpire signaled for him to circle the bases.

"That was a big hit for Jonny," Baker said.  "It had been so long, he forgot how to run.  We all woke up at once.  We got timely hitting.  We got some balls through the infield.  Zambrano was dealing.  That happens in baseball sometimes.  You go to the bathroom and come back and seven runs have scored.  There are times it happens so fast, you don't have time to get someone up in the bullpen."

In the 22 games since his last home run, Gomes had just nine hits in 67 at bats with three doubles and three RBI.  Baker had faith in him and kept him in the lineup for the most part.  Lately, he has been trying to match the 30-year old with pitchers he could hit.

"After the first pitch (the up and in pitch that got away), I told myself I wasn't going to struggle and get hit in the face," Gomes said.  "I didn't see the ball go over the fence.  This is a magical team.  Not only can we hit the ball out of the ballpark, we can situational hit, hit and run, sacrifice."

People wondered if it was superstition that made him shave the mohawk to get the monkey off his back.

"I don't think I ever had a monkey on my back," Gomes said.  "I may get days off when I struggle but never from lack of effort.  Shaving my head had nothing to do with it.  If it did, everybody would do it.  It's like trading in your car.  Sometimes you're just ready for a new look."

The Reds hope their new look from atop the Reds standing lasts awhile.

Carlos Pena topped a slow roller toward third base with a shift on and reached base to lead off the fifth.