Monday, September 27, 1999

Reds 7, Cardinals 5 (12)

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Reese delivers dramatic HR to win in 12th

BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Pokey Reese celebrates after his three-run, 12th-inning homer powered the Reds to a come-from-behind win over St. Louis on Sunday. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        The Reds finally have hit some level ground on their climb to the postseason. And if their 7-5, 12-inning victory Sunday over the St. Louis Cardinals was any indication, Cincinnati looked ready to cruise into the playoffs.

        A lot can go wrong in the final six games, of course. But failure seems distant when so much has gone right recently, including Pokey Reese's three-run homer that erased a 5-4 deficit with one out in the 12th before 43,613 fans at Cinergy Field.

        “I don't know how much better it can get than that one,” said manager Jack McKeon, who watched his Reds notch their 44th come-from-behind victory and 21st in their last at-bat.

        With Reese's blast, the Reds (93-63) won their fourth game in a row and fifth in their last six; took a one-game lead in the wild-card race over the New York Mets, who have lost six consecutive games; and trimmed first-place Houston's edge in the National League Central to a half-game.

        It marked the first time the Reds topped the division or the wild-card standings since Aug. 19, when they led Houston by .004 percentage points in the Central.

        It also marked a near-complete reversal from the previous Sunday, when the Reds suffered their fourth loss in six games to fall 3¹/₂ games behind Houston and four behind New York.

        Now the Reds are the hunted instead of the hunters. But they intend to maintain their exuberant, aggressive style.

        “We've got our head and our foot in the door right now,” said Mike Cameron, whose three-run, seventh-inning homer broke a 1-1 tie before Mark McGwire's 60th homer in the eighth inning and Fernando Tatis' two-run shot in the ninth forced extra innings. “Momentum is in our favor. But it's only for today. We have to put it out on the field every day.”

        “We just keep having fun,” McKeon said.

        Outdoing their sixth consecutive extra-inning victory might prove challenging for the Reds in today's regular-season finale.

        Cameron's homer gave them an apparently safe lead. But McGwire followed Chicago's Sammy Sosa as history's second player to hit 60 homers twice before Tatis hit relief ace Danny Graves' first pitch for his second homer of the game.

        Then the Reds squandered chances in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings by moving the potential winning run in scoring position each time.

        Edgar Renteria's slicing ground-rule double off Scott Williamson (12-7) scored Craig Paquette with two outs in the top of the 12th to put St. Louis ahead. But the Reds weren't finished.

        “Whoever has the last at-bat gets the last laugh,” Cameron said.

Sean Casey hugs Pokey Reese after Reese's home run in the 12th Sunday afternoon. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        Eddie Taubensee's one-out single off Mike Mohler (1-1) began Cincinnati's rally in the 12th. Mohler walked pinch hitter Brian Johnson and was replaced by Ricky Bottalico, St. Louis' eighth pitcher.

        Up came Reese, who hadn't driven in a run since Sept. 4 — a 17-game drought.

        Bottalico's first delivery darted off catcher Marcus Jensen's glove for a passed ball, advancing pinch runners Kerry Robinson and Jason LaRue into scoring position.

        Bottalico then tried a slider. “It hung there for me,” Reese said. “It wasn't sharp, and I saw it pretty good. I was trying to get a fly ball deep enough for Kerry to score.”

        Some fly ball. Reese's drive carried over the left-center field wall for his 10th home run, giving the Reds 10 players with 10 or more homers for the first time in franchise history.

        “I've been saying all year that it's a special season,” Reds shortstop Barry Larkin said. “Special things happen.”

       

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