Sunday, August 06, 2000
Marlins 10, Reds 5
Want blunders? 11-inning loss had everything
By Chris Haft
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Larry Luebbers, milking a cow in Farmers Night festivities, was an udder failure in the 11th.
(AP photo)
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The Reds turned a 4-3 ninth-inning lead Saturday night into an 11-inning, 10-5 loss to the Florida Marlins. As bad as that sounds from Cincinnati's perspective, it actually was worse.
Reds hitters continued to struggle in the clutch, going 4-for-20 with runners in scoring position. Cincinnati is 5-for-38 (.132) during its four-game losing streak in those situations.
Reds pitchers tied a dubious season high by walking 11 Marlins, including four by Mark Wohlers (0-1), who issued free passes to the first two batters in Florida's five-run 11th that broke a 5-5 tie.
Relief ace Danny Graves blew his second save in 11 games, squandering Cincinnati's one-run lead in the ninth by allowing Mark Kotsay's RBI double that forced extra innings. Left fielder Michael Tucker threw out a runner at home plate to prevent another run from scoring.
Reds and fans celebrate their short-lived lead in the 8th.
(Luis Sanchez photo)
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Then a baserunning gaffe by Dante Bichette prevented the Reds from winning in the bottom of the ninth. Pokey Reese hit what might have been a sacrifice fly to left field with the bases loaded and one out. But Bichette, the runner on third, apparently thought Reese's hit might drop safely and strayed too far from third base to tag up in time to run home.
“I just read it as a single to left,” Bichette told Associated Press. “Right off the bat, I knew I read it wrong. I tried to get back and I couldn't go. It was a big mistake and it cost us the game.”
“The way it was hit, you figured it might have been a base hit,” manager Jack McKeon said. “But you have to remember, those guys were playing close (to cut off a runner at home plate).”
Benito Santiago tags out Mark Kotsay in the 9th, preventing the Marlins from taking the lead.
(AP photo)
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The outcome left the Reds six games behind first-place St. Louis in the National League Central Division. The wild-card berth appears out of the question, because the Reds entered Saturday trailing New York by 81/2 games. In fact, the Marlins (55-55) have a better shot at the wild-card than 54-55 Cincinnati.
For the Reds to rebound, Graves must iron out his troubles. The All-Star barely escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam Friday night, surviving on a double play. Three outings before that on July24, he allowed three runs and six hits in two innings against Houston.
Graves, who inherited a one-run lead after Benito Santiago delivered a two-run, eighth-inning single that erased Florida's 3-2 edge, said the source of his problem is mechanical.
“I think my arm slot is gone right now,” he said. “Everything I'm throwing is up. When a sinkerballer is throwing up in the (strike) zone, you have no chance.”
Graves said that he examined videotapes and saw that he has been throwing almost sidearm lately, instead of overhanded. “I'm rushing a little bit, which is causing my arm slot to go down,” he said. “I guess it's one of those funks I need to get out of.”
The Marlins didn't play flawless baseball, either. They stranded 12 runners and squandered a 5-4, 10th-inning lead when Antonio Alfonseca, who blew his fourth save in 37 chances, yielded Ken Griffey Jr.'s RBI single.
But Florida, which has won four in a row, had enough to prevail in the 11th after Wohlers began the inning by walking Kotsay and Mike Redmond.
Larry Luebbers relieved Wohlers and fanned Preston Wilson before Mike Lowell, who already had doubled and homered, drilled another double to left-center field to score Kotsay and Redmond.
One out later, Luebbers walked Andy Fox before pinch-hitter Chris Clapinski drilled a two-run double to left field. Mark Smith's ground-rule double scored Clapinski.
Earlier, Florida forged ahead in the 10th. Wohlers, who had pitched nine scoreless innings in his five previous appearances, walked Derrek Lee with one out. Fox's groundout moved Lee to second base before pinch-hitter Kevin Millar grounded an RBI single to right field.
The Reds pulled even in their half of the 10th after Chris Stynes walked with one out and moved to third on Juan Castro's groundout. Griffey punched Alfonseca's 1-0 pitch to right field, scoring Stynes. Bichette also singled, but Sean Casey, who equaled a season high with four hits, struck out.
The Reds' inability to hit in the clutch eased but didn't stop.
Cincinnati put its first two runners on base in the second inning yet failed to score, squandered first-and-second, one-out opportunities in the fourth and seventh innings and couldn't deliver a runner from third base with nobody out in the sixth.
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Marlins 10, Reds 5
