Scott Sullivan was put squarely on the spot. He came in with a runner on first base, no outs and the Reds leading 1-0 Sunday.

        “It's tough when you have no margin for error,” Reds manager Jack McKeon said. “Sully made one bad pitch.”

        The bad pitch was to Danny Bautista, who hit it out to left for a three-run home run. That was the difference in the Reds' 3-1 loss to the Florida Marlins on Sunday.

        “That's how we lost the game,” Sullivan said. “It's pretty simple. It was a slider that didn't slide. It went the opposite way.”

        Sullivan came on in relief of Denny Neagle after Cliff Floyd singled to open the eighth inning. Neagle had no problem with the decision.

        “I was laboring a little,” he said. “That's the right decision. Sully was fresh. It's just unfortunate that it didn't work out for us.”

        Sullivan was the only choice for short relief because Danny Graves and Scott Williamson, who normally get the ball in the eighth or ninth, had pitched back-to-back games.

        Sullivan was coming off three scoreless innings in Los Angeles on Wednesday, when he recorded his first victory of the season.

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