Monday, October 04, 1999

Reds 7, Brewers 1

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Meet Mets at Cinergy tonight for wild-card berth

BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Fans and teammates greet Greg Vaughn after his 3-run homer. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

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        MILWAUKEE — The Reds already have made club history. They must work a little longer, however, for success.

        They remained tied with the New York Mets for first place in the National League wild-card standings Sunday night by defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 in a game delayed five hours and 47 minutes by rain.

        Sharing 96-66 records, Cincinnati and New York will meet tonight in Cinergy Field at 7:05 to determine the wild-card representative. Tickets were to go on sale at 7 a.m. today at the stadium and at Ticketmaster outlets.

        “Now it's 163 games instead of 162,” Reds manager Jack McKeon said. “But it's worth the wait.”

Dmitri Young kicks up a spray of water trying to making a sliding catch. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

“Adrenalin will take care of whatever fatigue we might have,” said winning pitcher Pete Harnisch. Harnisch (16-10) limited Milwaukee to four hits in 5 2/3 innings and singled to ignite a five-run third inning that featured Greg Vaughn's three-run homer.

        Said Vaughn, “Pete got it going, not just on the mound but with his bat. We just happened to follow.”

        It's the first time the Reds have engaged in a one-game playoff, though an extra game will be needed to draw the wild card for the second consecutive season. Chicago defeated San Francisco, 5-3, to win last year's playoff. The Mets and Reds will participate in the sixth one-game showdown for a postseason berth in major league history, three in each league.

        "We dealt ourselves this hand and now we have to deal with it," Barry Larkin said. "It's a one-game series and we have to win to move on. The whole dramatics of today. It's fun. Now it's perform or go home. It was a must-win situation for us and I didn't want to have any mental lapses."

GM Jim Bowden didn't have trouble finding a seat after a six-hour rain delay. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        Should the Reds survive New York, they'll travel to Atlanta to begin the best-of-five Division Series on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

        “It's going to be tough,” Vaughn said. “At this point, every team's going to be tough.”

        In today's playoff, the Reds are expected to start Steve Parris (11-3) against New York left-hander Al Leiter (12-12).

        Parris lost his only start against the Mets this year, yielding four runs (three earned) and seven hits in 6 innings on June 16 in Cincinnati as New York prevailed, 5-2. It marked Parris' first defeat of the season following four victories.

        Leiter is 1-1 against the Reds in a pair of starts this season. He cruised to a 4-1 victory on April 22 in Cincinnati, permitting one run and five hits in 6ô innings while walking two and striking out eight. Brian Johnson's homer accounted for the Reds' lone run.

        Leiter worked seven innings in a 5-3 loss to the Reds on May 31 at Shea Stadium. The seven hits he allowed included home runs by Greg Vaughn and Pokey Reese.

        The Reds are 27-16 this year against left-handers, though only 10-10 at home.

        While Houston thrashed Los Angeles to clinch the NL Central Division title and New York edged Pittsburgh to assure itself of nothing worse than a one-game playoff with Cincinnati for the wild-card spot, most of the Reds occupied themselves in their cramped clubhouse by watching football games on television and taking batting practice.

Pete Harnisch was untouchable. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        Relatively few watched the Mets-Pirates game. “I was worried about what the 49ers were doing,” Vaughn said.

        After a careful inspection of the soggy field — “I wanted to make sure it was right,” McKeon said — the Reds and Brewers began play at 9:52 p.m. Eastern time in front of about 500 remarkably patient spectators, including many Reds fans.

        The official paid attendance was 55,992 — the largest regular-season crowd in Brewers history. The disparity between the announced and actual crowds reflected the number of people who purchased tickets for what was expected to be the last game at Milwaukee County Stadium. Construction delays have delayed the opening of the Brewers' new facility, Miller Park, until 2001.

Sean Casey pumps his fist after the last out. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The Reds became the only team in franchise history, other than the 1940 World Championship club, to avoid a four-game losing streak. They had lost three in a row for the eighth time this season entering Sunday's game.

        After hitting .235 in the first four games of this road trip, they rapped 12 hits. That included five in a row off Brewers starter Cal Eldred (2-8) to start the big third.

        Batting .141 this season, Harnisch opened the inning with a single to right field. He moved to third on Pokey Reese's single to left-center and scored as Barry Larkin bounced another single to the left side of the infield.

        Sean Casey singled Reese home before Vaughn launched his 45th homer.

        Enquirer news services contributed to this report.

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