Monday, August 17, 1998

BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reggie Sanders high fives Barry Larkin after he scores off Casey's triple. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

Reggie Sanders didn't know he had a chance to hit for the cycle Sunday until bullpen coach Tom Hume mentioned it as Sanders went to the plate in the seventh inning.

Sanders had tripled in the first inning, doubled in the fourth and singled in the fifth, so all he needed was a home run against Expos reliever Mike Maddux.

"I tried to hit one," he said. "But it got up on the end of the bat."

Still, it looked like it might go out anyway. The ball carried to the warning track in left field.

So by five or six feet, Sanders missed becoming the first the Red to hit for the cycle since Eric Davis versus San Diego on June 2, 1989.

Sanders, who doesn't remember hitting for the cycle at any level, admitted he has gone to the plate trying to a hit a home run many times before.

"It used to be a lot," he said.

Sanders tied a career-high by scoring four runs Sunday. He had a great nine-game homestand, hitting .393 (11-for-28), with three doubles, five RBI and nine runs.

Sanders is hitting .301 in the 58 starts he has made in the leadoff spot. That has raised his overall average to .274.