Sunday, June 14, 1998

BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Dmitri Young breaks his bat. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

It's hard to find fault with anything Dmitri Young has done at the plate in his first year with the Reds. Young has been spraying line drives since Opening Day.

But Reds manager Jack McKeon has been trying to get Young, a habitual free swinger, to be more patient.

The patience paid off Saturday night.

Young's three-run home run in the fifth inning was the big blow in the Reds 7-4 victory over the Houston Astros before a crowd of 28,055 at Cinergy Field.

"That's something we've been talking to him about," McKeon said. "We tell him, "Sooner or later, you get in a position where they give you that good pitch. Then you take it deep.' "

Young came up in the fifth with two out, Barry Larkin at second and Eddie Taubensee at first.

"I was looking for a good pitch to at least get Larkin in," Young said. "I ended up getting more than Larkin in."

Young's shot lifted the Reds from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 lead. Bret Boone followed with a solo home run. The Reds, who scored six runs during their five-game losing streak, have scored 15 in two nights.

Reggie Sanders hits a homer in the first inning. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

Scott Klingenbeck, the Oak Hills High graduate, pitched 5 2/3 innings for his first National League victory.

"Hopefully, it's one of many," Klingenbeck said. "It was great, especially here in my hometown, where I always dreamed about playing."

Klingenbeck (1-1) figures he had 70 to 80 friends and family among the crowd. Afterward, he was going around getting the ball and the lineup card signed by his teammates.

The bullpen shut down the Astros after Klingenbeck left. Danny Graves pitched 2 1/3 innings, and Jeff Shaw pitched the ninth for his 18th save. Shaw has not allowed an earned run in 25 1/3 innings.

The game ended on fine running catch by Chris Stynes on Bill Spiers' line drive to left.

But the story of this game was the offense.

Reynolds, who is 1-6 at Cinergy Field, needed 114 pitches to get through five innings.

Reggie Sanders put the Reds up 1-0 by driving Reynolds' fourth pitch of the game into the seats above left field for a home run. It was Sanders' ninth overall and second to lead off a game this year.

The Astros answered in the second. Jeff Bagwell led off the inning with a double to left. He moved to third on a passed ball and scored on Carl Everett's sacrifice fly.

Scott Klingenbeck kicks the mound after Derek Bell's homer. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

Klingenbeck got in more trouble in third. Derek Bell tattooed a 2-1 sinker for a 439-foot, two-run home run to dead center, Bell's ninth, which gave the Astros a 3-1 lead.

It was the third home run Klingenbeck allowed in nine innings since being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis.

It looked like the Reds might drown in a sea of fizzled rallies until the fifth.

With two outs, Larkin singled, extending his hitting streak to six games. Taubensee followed with a walk. Then Young drove 1-0 pitch over the right field fence for his seventh home run. Young once again has hit his way out of a slump. He came into Friday night's game on a 1-for-12 skid. He is 3-for-7 with two walks and four RBI since.

Patience is the key. But it's tough.

"Naturally, I want to be more selective," he said. "But sometimes you get overanxious. Coach, whomever, can tell you 1,000 times to be patient. But . . . "

Boone followed Young's homer with a shot to right, Boone's 10th, to make it 5-3.

The Astros made it a one-run game in the their half of the sixth. Bagwell doubled and scored two outs later on Tony Eusebio's single. After Klingenbeck walked the next batter, Ricky Gutierrez, the Reds brought on Graves in relief.

Graves has not allowed a run in his last four appearances and six innings. He was particularly effective in the eighth, getting Bell and Bagwell both on called third strikes.

"He's really come on," McKeon said. "He's going to be a closer one day, hopefully for us."

Graves, the 24-year-old right-hander who came over in the John Smiley trade, blushed at such talk.

"I've never heard that before," he said. "They said in Cleveland I'd never be a closer. It's shocking that Jack would say that. But it's encouraging."

The Reds added two runs in the ninth.

"This was a team effort," Klingenbeck said. "Things could start to turn around."