Pushing his troublesome hamstring to the limit, Ken Griffey Jr. caught the ball, slammed into the wall, rolled backward and quickly got to his feet, holding on for the out.

        Vintage Junior.

Ken Griffey Jr. acknowledges cheers after his 2,000th hit. (Brandi Stafford photo) | ZOOM |

        Moments later, a young pitcher singled home a pair of runs with his first major league hit, and all Griffey could do was drop his head and watch the Seattle Mariners win again.

        It's been that way since they've been apart.

        Griffey got his 2,000th hit and made a spectacular catch, but his former team once again did just fine without him. The Mariners cruised to an 8-1 victory that knocked the Reds out of first place for the first time in 52 days.

        There was no question who got the best of this reunion.

        “I got a couple of hits, but I would have liked to have gotten a win,” said Griffey, who had two singles in three at-bats.

        The Mariners took control by scoring four runs in the sixth off Chris Reitsma (3-4), who got a momentary reprieve when Griffey took on the wall to catch Ben Davis' sacrifice fly.

        “Great play,” said Mariners manager Lou Piniella, who had Griffey for seven years in Seattle. “I thought the ball was going to go off the wall. I've seen Junior make a lot of great plays. It's good to see him back on the field. I hope he stays healthy.”

        Most of the 26,654 fans came to see if Griffey could regain his touch against the team that he maneuvered into a trade before the 2000 season. The Mariners have lost Junior and Alex Rodriguez since then, but only gotten better, winning 116 games last season.

        By contrast, the Reds have struggled and Griffey has been hurt. He missed six weeks this season with a torn tendon in his knee, and was limited to pinch-hitting for the last 10 days because of a pulled hamstring.

        He had an infield single in his first at-bat, a weak grounder that rolled only about 15 feet but had so much spin that it eluded Pineiro, allowing Griffey to get his 2,000th career hit.

        While his father, Ken Sr., cackled in the press box over the diminutive single, Junior tipped his helmet to a standing ovation. He became the 29th player to get 2,000 hits and 400 homers, joining Barry Bonds, Fred McGriff and Rafael Palmeiro as active players at the mark.

        “I learned from Mr. Tiger Woods how to spin a ball like that,” Griffey said. “I hit it, said I'd better be careful, the pitcher called it, I just kept running and it just happened.”

        He had another single in the fifth and got another ovation after his wall-jarring catch in the sixth, but could only slow the Mariners in a game full of angles.

        There was the Boone family reunion — Reds manager Bob Boone and sons Aaron (the Reds' third baseman) and Bret (the Mariners' second baseman) involved in the same game for the first time.

        There was Piniella, getting an ovation in the city where he won a World Series championship in 1990.

        Mostly, there was Junior, who was the focus of a reunion that seemed special for everyone but him.

        “There are only five or six guys still there from when I left, that's it,” Griffey said. “So it's a little different because it says Seattle, but they're just another team coming in.”
       

Mariners 8, Reds 1 Reds box, runs Griffey's return soured by loss Griffey still not 100 percent Sweet Lou glad to be back DAUGHERTY: Piniella managed with fear Mariners visit begins with hugs, handshakes Hall of Fame plan completed Gullett finds Chen's problem Reds Notebook: McKeon reassigned Broadcaster Jack Buck dies Devil Rays 8, Giants 3 Blue Jays 2, Dodgers 1 Diamondbacks 6, Orioles 3 Red Sox 4, Padres 2 Yankees 10, Rockies 5

UC signee little help in finding shooter
Hamblen leaves UC for pro baseball
XU hires Bradbury away from Bearcats
Xavier adds Gillen to Hall of Fame
U.S. loses the element of surprise
South Korea, Turkey continue World Cup shakeup
World Cup notebook
Klare wins first match in Women's Met
Women's Met Scores & Schedule
Irish eliminated from College World Series
Trevino recalls stopping Bear slam
Wimbledon top seed Hewitt draws tough first-round foe
Coming up this week
All-Ohio girls softball teams

• Return to Reds front page...