Monday, July 08, 2002
Brewers on a roll, Reds lag
By TERRY KINNEY
Associated Press Writer
CINCINNATI — With the worst record in the National League, a candid assessment of the Milwaukee Brewers seemed obvious. “It's been a tough go all year for us,” said manager Jerry Royster. But after beating the Cincinnati Reds 7-4 on Sunday, the Brewers were upbeat.
“We just want to try to play well in the second half and try to salvage the season,” said first baseman Richie Sexson, a member of the NL All-Star team.
The Brewers went into the All-Star break relishing a 7-6 record in 13 games on the road, their longest trip of the season.
“Considering the teams we played against, we did pretty well,” Sexson said.
Milwaukee was 2-1 at St. Louis, the NL Central leader; 1-2 at Minnesota, the AL Central leader; 2-1 at Pittsburgh, mid-pack in the NL Central; and 2-2 at Cincinnati, the NL Central runner-up.
“This road trip could be pretty special for us,” Royster said. “It shows our guys they can play with anybody.”
Royster can't wait for the second half of the season, eager to see if the Brewers can keep playing good baseball.
“Our team has been so focused this road trip,” he said. “My job is to try to figure out how to do that again.”
While the Brewers were gaining momentum, Cincinnati slipped two games behind St. Louis.
Reds starter Joey Hamilton (3-6) allowed 10 hits in five innings, walked one and struck out two.
“You always want to end the first half on a good note. Unfortunately, I didn't do that,” Hamilton said. “I got a lot of ground balls that went through, and they had a couple of hard-hit balls. Hopefully, I can start the second half the way I started the first half.”
Manager Bob Boone hopes so, too.
“He made some mistakes,” Boone said. “He gave up some hard-hit balls. We hit some balls real good, too, but they were right at people.”
Boone would like to see Hamilton come back from the break and find the form he had early in the season, when he was 3-2 and the Reds won seven of Hamilton's first nine starts.
“I hope he's better than what we've been seeing,” Boone said. “He makes a lot of mistakes — one an inning. His stuff is fine.”
Eric Young had three hits, and Paul Bako and Jeffrey Hammonds homered Sunday for Milwaukee. Brewers starter Ruben Quevedo pitched well until the fifth, walking four and striking out three, then left one out short of qualifying for the win.
Valerio De Los Santos (2-2) got the final out of the inning when Sean Casey flied to left field with the bases loaded. De Los Santos got a painful assist in the next inning when a line drive by Todd Walker caromed off his left forearm to second baseman Young, who threw to first to double off Russell Branyan.
De Los Santos allowed one hit in 1 1-3 innings.
“You have to take it sometimes,” De Los Santos said, shrugging off the welt on his arm. “Whatever it takes, we have to try to do it.”
Milwaukee scored twice in the fifth to take the lead for good on an RBI single by Matt Stairs and a run-scoring groundout by Lenny Harris to take a 5-3 lead. Bako hit his fourth homer in the eighth, and Hammonds added his seventh shot leading off the ninth.
Cincinnati got homers from Walker, his fifth, and Aaron Boone, his 12th.
Notes: OF Austin Kearns was a late scratch from the Reds starting lineup because of a jammed right index finger. Branyan started in his place and doubled and scored in his first at-bat. Kearns pinch hit in the eighth and flied out to end the inning. ... Sexson, who has played in every game for Milwaukee and started 86 of the 88, didn't start but entered the game in the seventh inning and went 0-for-2. Sexson, after hitting his 19th homer Saturday night, was invited to participate in the All-Star game home run derby. ... Fellow Brewers All-Star Jose Hernandez, who had appeared in 86 games, had the day off. ... The Reds go into the break at 46-41 record, their best in three years. A year ago, they were 33-54.
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Brewers on a roll, Reds lag