Sunday, April 18, 1999
PIRATES 7, REDS 6
Ten walks spoil comeback
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
You know that corny “Walks Will Haunt” cartoon they play on the scoreboard at Cinergy Field, the one with the little ghost, the one that was fresh in 1972?
They should require each Reds pitcher to watch about an hour of that on a big-screen TV before taking the mound. Because if ever there was a team haunted by walks, it's this one.
The Reds walked 10 batters Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Four of the
walks scored, and the Reds lost 7-6 in 10 innings.
“I'm tired of talking about walks,” Reds manager Jack McKeon said. “If these guys can't see that the guys who win don't walk guys ... If you walk guys consistently, you're going to lose.”
The walks put the Reds in a 4-0 hole Saturday. They battled back, tying it 6-6 by the seventh and forcing extra innings, but the bullpen finally let the game slip away in the 10th inning.
The bullpen had to go 9ö innings, because starter Jason Bere was done in by — what else? — walks.
Bere walked Jason Kendall to start the game. He struck out
Warren Morris and then walked Brian Giles and Kevin Young to load the bases. (The irony here: While Bere was walking himself out of the game, Mark Wohlers, a pitcher the Reds got because he couldn't throw strikes in Atlanta, was meeting with the media).
Finally forced to throw strikes, Bere threw one that Brant Brown lined to center to clear the bases.
After Bere walked Ed Sprague, his day was done.
“I didn't throw strikes,” Bere said. “You have to throw strikes and take your chances. I wasn't able to do that today.”
Said McKeon: “He had good stuff. He's got to put it over the plate.”
The walks problem has been particularly bad at Cinergy. The Reds have walked 40 batters in their five games at home; not coincidentally they are 1-4 here.
“We've lost six games,” McKeon said. “Probably four of the six are because of walks.”
McKeon knows that none of the pitchers is trying to walk himself into no-win situations. But he added: “You can only go so long. Then you have to make changes.”
Bere has walked 11 batters in 11ö innings over three starts.
“It's somewhat frustrating,” he said. “You have to use the whole plate and not try to be too fine. At the start, I was trying to pick instead of just throwing strikes.”
Scott Sullivan, who replaced Bere, allowed another run to score on a base hit, then got out of the first with a double-play ball.
The relief corps — Sullivan, Dennys Reyes, Scott Williamson and Gabe White — allowed one more run over the next eight innings.
That gave the Reds a chance to rally.
“We battled for four hours today,” said Sean Casey, who had two hits and three RBI. “We just came up a little short. But this is nothing to hang our heads about.”
The Reds lost when White allowed a run in the 10th.
“The bullpen did a good job,” McKeon said. “The problem is, in the eighth, ninth and 10th, you have no margin for error.”
The loss kept the Reds (4-6) from reaching .500 for the first time since they were 21-21 last season.
“We've got to get to .500 and go from there,” McKeon said. “We will get there.”
They just won't walk there.
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