Saturday, April 17, 1999

REDS 6, PIRATES 5

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Morris delivers Hal-Mary

BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Hal Morris hits a pinch-hit double to win the game in the ninth. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        The Reds won for the first time at home this year and did it in style.

        Hal Morris' pinch-hit double with the bases loaded in the ninth inning scored the tying and winning runs in a 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 17,974 cold customers Friday night at Cinergy Field.

        This pinch-hitting stuff is new to Morris, until now an everyday player, but hitting is not. Morris is a career .306 hitter.

        “He can fall out of bed and hit,” Reds Manager Jack McKeon said. “He's got the best stats of anyone on our bench. I'm very confident in him.”

        It was Morris' first pinch-hit in three tries this year. But McKeon sent him up for a reason: Morris was 4-for-10 in his career off Mike Williams, the right-hander he was facing.

        Williams fell behind 2-0, then he got a pitch up in the strike zone.

Morris is congratulated by Sean Casey. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “I think it was some kind of breaking pitch,” Morris said. “It was higher than he wanted it.”

        High enough for Morris to hit it into right field for a double.

        “I felt good,” Morris said. “But it's a tough situation — two outs, bottom of the ninth. You just want to put a good at-bat on them, hit the ball hard.”

        It was the Reds first last at-bat win of the year and it allowed them to avoid their worst start at home since 1955. They opened that season 0-4 at Crosley Field. They also opened 1937 0-4 at home.

        The Reds rallied from a 5-2 deficit against the Pirate bullpen — the entire bullpen, Pittsburgh used seven pitchers.

Pokey Reese dresses against the chill. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        The win was a tribute to the Reds bullpen and the bench. Dennys Reyes, Scott Williamson, Gabe White and Danny Graves held the Pirates scoreless the last 3 2/3 innings. Bench players Michael Tucker and Jeffery Hammonds each had a hit and scored a run in the Reds' rally. Another sub, Chris Stynes, made a key defensive play in the eighth.

        Graves (1-1) got the win.

        “The bullpen has been good, except for the those first three games of the year,” Graves said. “We did our job. We gave the team a chance to come back.”

        The Reds streak of eight straight games with a home run ended.

        Reds starter Brett Tomko went 5 2/3 innings and most of it was a struggle. He allowed five runs — four earned — on seven hits. He walked four and struck out five.

        An early error by Aaron Boone led to a run for the second straight game. Jason Kendall led off the game with a groundball that Boone mishandled. Kendall stole second and scored two outs later on Kevin Young's single to left.

        The Reds got the run back in their half of the first.

Mike Cameron dives to knock down a ball in the gap. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        Mike Cameron led off with a double that extended his hitting streak to four games. He would eventually score on Sean Casey's sacrifice fly to deep center.

        The Reds took the lead in the second. Eddie Taubensee walked. Boone singled. Pokey Reese moved them to second and third with a groundout. Taubensee scored on Tomko's nubber back to pitcher Jason Schmidt. Tomko was safe after Schmidt was unable to field the ball.

        The Pirates went up 5-2 by scoring a pair of runs off Tomko in the fourth and sixth.

        Schmidt, meanwhile, retired 13 of 14 in one stretch.

        But he got in trouble in the seventh. Reese and Tucker started the inning with back-to-back singles. They moved to second and third on Cameron's groundout to third.

        Schmidt then got Barry Larkin on a called third strike.

        That was it for Schmidt.

        Left-hander Scott Sauerbeck, a graduate of Northwest High and Miami University, came into face Casey. Sauerbeck's third pitch hit Casey on the back.

        The Pirates then brought in Jason Phillips to face Greg Vaughn. Phillips' first pitch was wild, allowing Reese to score and Tucker and Casey to move up.

        Phillips' third pitch was wild as well, allowing Tucker to score and Casey to go to third. Suddenly, it was a 5-4 game.

        The Reds bullpen kept it that way until the ninth.

        Hammonds led off the ninth with a single to right. Cameron went up trying to sacrifice him over, but ended up walking.

        That was it for Jason Christiansen. The Pirates brought in Williams, Pittsburgh's seventh pitcher of the night, to face Larkin. Larkin sacrificed Hammonds and Cameron over.

        The Pirates then intentionally walked Casey.

        That brought up Vaughn. He struck out on three pitches, swinging and missing badly on all three.

        Morris, who pinch-hit for Stynes, took two balls and then won the game with line drive to right.

        Morris was toasty warm on the night when the wind chill was in 20s.

        “I sat by the heater all night,” he said. “I felt sorry for the guys out in the field, but I was pretty warm.”

       

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