Wednesday, August 12, 1998

BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Brett Tomko gave up four runs in five innings. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

As bad games go, this was not Brett Tomko's worst. While it was far from among his better performances, the second-year right-hander didn't feel he pitched that badly Tuesday, yet he lost for the eighth time.

The start, however, was shaky enough to qualify as rough, another bump on Tomko's up-and-down sophomore learning curve. His line: five innings, four runs, four hits, two wild pitches and a hit batsman in a 7-0 Reds loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Reds are now tied with Pittsburgh in the National League Central cellar, at 53-66.

Pirates starter Francisco Cordova pitched his second shutout of the season for his 10th victory overall, despite a broken bone in his pitching hand.

"Our bats just got silenced," Reds manager Jack McKeon said. It wasn't a major collapse for Tomko as his nine-run debacle last week in Atlanta was, but he got himself in just enough trouble to warrant a quick hook from McKeon.

"I didn't think I threw the ball all that bad," said a calm Tomko (10-8). "I fell behind (Kevin) Young and gave up a solo shot. That's going to happen. Maybe I wasn't at my best, but I thought I was doing halfway decent."

Aaron Boone is too late with the tag as Al Martin steals third. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

The Pirates led off with two singles in the second that led to their first two runs, though Tomko was able to get out of the inning by inducing ground balls. Jose Guillen and Al Martin each singled and eventually scored on groundouts by Freddy Garcia and Lou Collier.

In the fourth, Young led off with a green-seat homer to left for a 3-0 lead. Tomko then hit Guillen, the next batter, and Guillen eventually scored on Garcia's RBI grounder for a 4-0 advantage.

"People aren't going to be on the top of their games every night," Tomko said. "I had good stuff, I got a lot of ground balls."

Scott Sullivan was responsible for the next two runs when he surrendered a two-run homer to All-Star catcher Jason Kendall in the seventh.

Jason Bere, who was activated Tuesday and saw his first action since June 30 with the White Sox, pitched a perfect eighth. He then loaded the bases in the ninth on a double, a hit batter and a walk and allowed a seventh run on a sacrifice fly.

The Reds, who scored 24 runs in three weekend games against the Brewers, could do nothing. Only twice did the Reds have more than one man on base at a time.

Cordova took the mound with a broken bone in his pitching hand. The Pirates believe Cordova might have broken the bone two or three years ago, but it bothered him Saturday while playing catch. X-rays taken Sunday revealed the break.

"His ball has so much movement," said Reds left fielder Dmitri Young. "You try to wait as long as you can, but then it breaks so late, it's tough to hit. He's a big-league pitcher, grade-A quality."

Bret Boone gets attention after being hit in the head by a pickoff throw. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

One of Cordova's throws ended up sending a scare through the crowd, when Bret Boone got in the way of a pickoff in the second and was hit on the upper right side of his face.

As Boone dove back to first, Cordova's throw hit just below his right temple hard enough to deflect in a different direction. Boone lay on the ground for a few minutes, but then hopped up, brushed some dirt off and stayed in the game.

"He got me good," said Boone, sporting a huge welt. "I didn't know what happened, if I'd broken my jaw. It was like a fight where somebody blindsides you and just clocks you, but it was harder than a punch. I thought, "Oh, my God, I shattered my face.'

"I had a headache and earache, but physically I was OK, so I went back in."