Tuesday, April 02, 2002
Reds 5, Cubs 4
Larkin makes sure Reds get off on right foot
By John Fay jfay@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Aaron Boone was thinking the ball would fall in for a single. Then he realized, with the bases loaded and one out, the Chicago Cubs outfielders would be playing him in, so Sammy Sosa had no problem catching Boone's ball in right.
Barry Larkin is swarmed by happy Reds (Todd Walker at left; Jason LaRue, Danny Graves and Aaron Boone at right).
(Michael E. Keating photo)
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Barry Larkin, on third base, was going home all the way. It didn't matter that Sosa, known mostly for his power at the plate, also has a pretty good arm.
Larkin, showing he's healthy, motored down the line. Sosa's throw was a strong one. Larkin and the ball arrived at the plate at about the same time. Catcher Robert Machado couldn't come up with it cleanly.
Larkin slid home with the winning run in the Reds' 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Cinergy Field.
“The throw beat me,” Larkin said. “I tried to get there as quickly as I could. I saw the short hop.”
Larkin popped up from his slide for an immediate mob celebration. The glow of the victory was still apparent an hour later.
“A lot of guys had a hand in it,” Boone said. “That makes for a good thing.”
Sean Casey falls in a heap after being hit in the helmet with a pitch in the ninth.
(Glenn Hartong photo)
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That was the sentiment all around. Seven players had at least one of the Reds' 12 hits. Five players drove in one run each. Five pitchers pitched, and each did well.
“That's exactly the way you want to win,” said closer Danny Graves, who got the win. “It wasn't one guy. That's the way you want to play the game. Hopefully, it's a sign of things to come. What more can you ask for?”
Not much. You had a beautiful sunny day. You had a packed house of 41,193 for the final Opening Day at Cinergy. You had a baseball game with great plays and lots of action. And you had that ending. A bang-bang play at the plate was the perfect way to ring in the Reds' first Opening Day victory since 1997.
“That's a beautiful win,” said starting pitcher Joey Hamilton.
Todd Walker watches his fifth-inning homer
(Michael E. Keating photo)
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Cincinnati is a place where too much is always made of Opening Day. It's an unofficial holiday and an official big deal. So an inordinate amount of significance is put on the Opening Day result.
It's only one of the 162 games, so that's dangerous. But the Reds said the way they won was significant.
“It's the fashion in which we won,” Larkin said. “We had good situational hitting. That's what it's going to take.”
The Reds showed that from the start. Todd Walker led off the Reds' first with a bloop double to left.
Ken Griffey Jr. slides home under Cubs catcher Todd Hundley in the third inning.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
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Larkin got him to third with a fly out to right. Ken Griffey Jr. got Walker home with a sacrifice fly to left. Reds, 1-0.
“Last year, with a runner at second with no outs, guys would have gone up there trying to get the RBI,” Graves said. “We didn't play as a team. We played as individuals.”
Getting a run off Cubs starter Jon Lieber early was big. Lieber was 5-0 with a 2.43 ERA against the Reds last year.
“You need a little luck off Lieber because he's a tough pitcher,” Walker said. “It was nice to start that way.”
Walker doubled in the third and eventually scored on Sean Casey's single. That made it 2-0. The Cubs got runs off Hamilton in the fourth and fifth, and Hamilton left with the score 2-2.
Walker broke the tie by leading off the fifth with a home run to right-center.
The Reds made it 4-2 in the sixth. Jason LaRue hit a two-out double, then scored on Brady Clark's pinch hit.
Time to turn it over to the bullpen and relax, right?
The bullpen manufactured a lot of tension Monday. First, Scott Williamson walked the two batters hitting in front of Sosa. Williamson and Gabe White got the Reds out of that jam with strikeouts.
Then, after Scott Sullivan pitched a fairly uneventful seventh, the eighth inning turned out to be just the kind of inning that would have killed the 2001 Reds.
Right fielder Juan Encarnacion misplayed Machado's fly ball for a two-base error.
“I just lost it,” Encarnacion said.
After Sullivan got Delino DeShields, Corey Patterson followed with a drive to deep center on which Ken Griffey Jr. almost made a leaping catch. Patterson got a triple, scoring Machado.
The Reds brought in Graves hoping to get a ground ball. He delivered.
Sosa hit a smash that Boone dove to his left to field, then threw to first to get Sosa, with Patterson holding at third.
But Fred McGriff followed with a blooper down the left-field line. Boone made a long run and tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch. It went off his glove for a double. Patterson came home to tie the score.
“I was little frustrated,” Boone said. “I got to it. It hit (my glove), but I wasn't able to snatch it.”
Graves left McGriff stranded and pitched a scoreless ninth, as well. That gave the Reds a chance to win it, walk-off style.
Larkin worked a one-out walk. Griffey quickly fell behind left-hander Jeff Fassero 0-2. But Griffey lined a single into right.
That brought up Casey. Fassero hit him in the helmet with a pitch — the third batter Fassero had hit in the game (one more than he'd hit in 2000 and 2001 combined). Boone at first thought his ball would fall safely. It didn't.
“I said, "Come on, Barry,'” Boone said.
Casey was doing the same.
“I turned into a cheerleader,” Casey said.
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Reds 5, Cubs 4
