By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's game

It was business as usual for the Reds but a completely new experience for Juan Castro.

Castro's two-out single in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Reds to a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees before a crowd of 41,826, the second-largest of the year, Tuesday at Great American Ball Park.

Castro, known for a great glove and a weak bat, was proud of his punch.

"It's more than nice," he said. "It's wonderful. It was my first game-winning hit as a big-leaguer. I will always remember this."

It was a memorable night all around. The Reds came back twice to tie it, then won in the final at-bat for the 15th time in 28 wins.

"It felt like a playoff game," Castro said. "We wanted to give the fans a good show."

Jason LaRue missed a home run on a drive off the wall in left-center with one out in the ninth. He ended up at second with a double.

That brought up Felipe Lopez, who was 0-for-his-last-16. Lopez struck out for the third time of the night.

Castro then faced Antonio Osuna, who also hails from Mexico and who came up in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization with Castro. How close are they? Castro is godfather of Osuna's 10-year-old daughter, Lohami.

"But when he's pitching, I don't know him," Castro said.

Castro quickly got ahead 2-0. He was looking for a fastball. He got it.

"It was outside," Castro said. "I just put the bat on it."

He sent it skidding down the first-base line.

"I was praying it wouldn't go foul while I was running," Castro said.

It didn't. LaRue scored with two outs for the Reds' seventh walk-off win. Castro was the seventh player to get the walk-off hit. For his heroics, he was mobbed as he touched first base.

"It so great for Juan," Sean Casey said. "He's always had a great swing. Now, he's showing what he can do when he plays every day. He can hit a bit. He plays a Gold Glove short or second. Tell me who's better as short or second."

The big crowd got a lot for its entertainment dollar.

There were the comebacks.

There were fine defensive plays - a sure ESPN Top 10 by Alfonso Soriano, going into short right field to get Casey in the first inning, and a running and a diving catch by Adam Dunn in the eighth to take a hit away from Raul Mondesi. Castro contributed his nightly gem - a barehanded play to get Hideki Matsui in the first.

"I don't know how I did that," Castro said. "I only had three fingers on the ball."

There also were some quirky plays. The Reds scored runs on a blown double-play ball, a wild pitch and a 15-foot infield single.

And there was a spectacular pitching performance by winning pitcher Chris Reitsma: six up, six down, four by strikeout on a mixture of 94 mph fastballs and 74 mph changeups.

"When he's got arm speed like that, his changeup is unhittable," Reds manager Bob Boone said.

Jason Giambi led off the second with his 12th home run of the year to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte retired the first 10 batters he faced. Casey broke the string with a hard grounder past Soriano. Ken Griffey Jr. followed with a single to center that sent Casey to third.

Austin Kearns grounded a potential double-play ball at Soriano, but he couldn't get the ball out of his glove. He tried to flip the ball from his glove to shortstop Derek Jeter, but it pulled Jeter off the bag. Kearns and Griffey were safe, and Casey scored the tying run..

The Yankees took the lead back in the sixth after Reds starter Jimmy Haynes lost his ability to throw strikes. He walked Giambi and Jorge Posada back to back, and both ended up scoring.

Haynes went six innings, allowing the three runs on five hits, in his second start since retuning from the disabled list.

The Reds tied it up in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to wildness from Pettitte.

Dunn worked a one-out walk. Griffey followed with his second hit. Dunn and Griffey moved to second and third on a wild pitch with Kearns at the plate. Dunn scored when the very next pitch was wild as well.

The last five hitters in the Reds' batting order - Boone, LaRue, Lopez, Castro and pitchers' spot - were 1-for-15, going into the ninth. But the ninth proved to be the Reds' and Castro's inning.

New York	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Jeter ss	5	0	1	0	0	1	.292
Matsui cf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.250
ASoriano 2b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.299
JaGiambi 1b	3	2	1	1	1	0	.229
Posada c	1	1	0	0	3	1	.269
Ventura 3b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.285
Mondesi rf	4	0	1	1	0	2	.292
JRivera lf	3	0	1	0	1	0	.200
Pettitte p	3	0	1	1	0	1	.333
CHammond p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Zeile ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.220
Osuna p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	32	3	5	3	5	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Dunn lf-1b	3	1	0	0	1	1	.209
Casey 1b	4	1	2	0	0	0	.301
Taylor pr-lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.234
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	2	0	0	1	.284
Kearns rf	4	0	1	1	0	2	.294
ABoone 3b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.250
LaRue c	4	1	2	0	0	1	.252
FLopez ss	4	0	0	0	0	3	.214
JCastro 2b	4	0	1	1	0	1	.257
JHaynes p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333
WPena ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.103
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JGuillen ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Totals	34	4	8	2	1	13

New York	010	002	000	-3	5	2
Cincinnati	000	102	001	-4	8	1

Two outs when winning run scored.

E-ASoriano (8), Pettitte (1), Casey (2). LOB-New York 7, Cincinnati 5. 2B-LaRue (11). HR-JaGiambi (12), off JHaynes. RBIs-JaGiambi (35), Mondesi (32), Pettitte (1), Kearns (50), JCastro (9). GIDP-ABoone.

Runners left in scoring position-New York 4 (Jeter, ASoriano, Mondesi, Pettitte).

Runners moved up-Ventura.

DP-New York 1 (ASoriano, Jeter and JaGiambi).

New York	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Pettitte	7	5	3	2	1	9	117	4.71
CHammond	1	1	0	0	0	2	15	3.09
Osuna L, 1-2	2/3	2	1	1	0	2	17	2.01

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JHaynes	6	5	3	3	5	3	97	9.42
GWhite	1	0	0	0	0	1	11	2.33
Reitsma W, 4-2	2	0	0	0	0	4	23	6.39

IBB-off JHaynes (JRivera) 1. WP-Pettitte 2.

Umpires-Home, Ed Montague; First, Brian Gorman; Second, Bruce Dreckman; Third, Brian Runge.

T-2:42. A-41,827 (42,263).