Elmer Dessens is now 3-0. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

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        DETROIT — Finally receiving a handful of the clutch hits that had eluded them at Comerica Park, the Reds avoided a three-game series sweep Tuesday night by outlasting the Detroit Tigers 5-4.

        Chris Stynes and Dmitri Young led the Reds' resurgence with three hits apiece. Stynes delivered a sixth-inning RBI single for what proved to be the stand-up run, and Young homered and drove in a pair of runs. Each Cincinnati starter rapped at least one hit as the team concluded interleague play for the season.

        The Reds (47-46), who stranded 22 baserunners while losing the series' first two games, did relatively little with the 15 hits they amassed. But they did just enough, scoring all of their runs with two outs.

        “We needed that badly,” Young said.

        “That was the key,” Reds manager Jack McKeon said of the Reds' two-out production. “I don't care who you are, whether you're the Cubs or the Cardinals. You can't sit back and wait for home runs.” Referring to the Tigers' spacious new stadium, McKeon added, “Not in this park, anyhow.”

Dmitri Young homers in the third. | ZOOM |

        Cincinnati held on as relievers Dennys Reyes, Scott Sullivan and Danny Graves, who earned his 16th save, blanked Detroit over the final three innings.

        Elmer Dessens (3-0) won his second consecutive start despite a mediocre performance. The right-hander allowed all of Detroit's runs while working 5 2/3 innings and surrendering seven hits.

        Cincinnati, which has won seven of its last 10 games, concludes its three-city, eight-game trip with a two-game series in Houston starting tonight.

        The Reds broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning, scoring twice with two outs.

        Young began the inning with his third hit, a single to center off Tigers starter Brian Moehler (6-6). Though Alex Ochoa also singled, the threat appeared stifled when Eddie Taubensee grounded into a double play.

        But despite being jammed on a 2-2 pitch, Pokey Reese got enough of his bat on the ball to guide it down the left-field line for a double, scoring Young. Stynes' third hit, a single to left, delivered Reese.

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Chris Stynes throws to first. | ZOOM |

        Detroit narrowed the difference to 5-4 in its half of the sixth. Brad Ausmus singled and advanced to third on a pair of infield outs.

        With left-hander Luis Polonia due up, McKeon played the percentages and replaced Dessens with the left-handed Reyes. But Luis Polonia looped a double to left field, scoring Ausmus.

        After collecting only four hits in 21 at-bats with runners in scoring position in the series' first two games, the Reds amassed two in those situations to open the scoring with a pair of first-in ning runs.

        Stynes doubled to open the game and came across on Dante Bichette's two-out single. After Sean Casey's single prolonged the inning, Young scored Bichette with a single to right-center.

        Young's homer with two outs in the third inning, his 10th of the season, widened the Reds' lead to 3-0 before the Tigers rallied.

        They scored in their half of the third inning as Dessens yielded one-out walks to Polonia and Rich Becker before Bobby Higginson stroked an RBI double.

        Detroit pulled even with two runs in the fourth inning as the first three batters reached base safely. Dessens hit leadoff batter Juan Encarnacion, who scored on Ausmus' double. Damion Easley's single up the middle sent home Ausmus.

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