By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer
The big play in the ninth inning is one that stands out.
The Mets' Jose Reyes bunted. Reds pitcher John Riedling fielded. No one covered first. Reyes was safe, and that led to what was the winning run in the Reds' 7-6 loss to New York on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.
As Reds manager Dave Miley saw it, first baseman Adam Dunn should have covered.
Dunn charged the ball and couldn't get back. Second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez tried to get over, but he had no chance getting the speedy Reyes.
"I looked up and there was no one to throw to," Riedling said. "That stuff happens. But you can't let it happen too often."
Riedling was referring to the Reds' current margin for error, which is thin.
The club played its third consecutive game without leading run producers Ken Griffey Jr. and Sean Casey in the starting lineup.
The Reds have lost four of their first six on the current nine-game, 10-day homestand. They are 8-14 in their last 22 games. In that span, they've gone from first place, two games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals, to four games behind the first-place Cards.
"Every game is huge for us right now," Ryan Freel said. "We've got to keep battling."
The Reds managed just two hits and zero runs off Al Leiter through seven innings.
That allowed the Mets to build a 6-0 lead, all on the home runs. Starter Jose Acevedo gave up a solo shot to former Red Eric Valent in the fifth and a three-run shot to Shane Spencer in the sixth. Gabe White gave up a solo shot to Reyes, and Mike Matthews allowed a home run to Richard Hidalgo.
Because of the Mets' solid bullpen, a 6-0 lead is usually a closed deal.
But the Reds put together a two-out, five-run rally in the eighth to make it 6-5. Dunn, Wily Mo Pena, Jason LaRue, pinch-hitter Griffey and Javier Valentin all had RBI hits in the rally.
"It's tough to come back from 6-0," Dunn said. "A lot of teams would have packed it in and called it a series. But we tried to grind it out."
After the eighth-inning rally, the Reds had to make four moves to fill all the defensive slots. In one of them, Dunn went from left field to first base.
Then came Reyes' bunt.
"It was a fastball in," Dunn said. "My thinking was if I don't go after it, he's safe because he's one of the fastest runners in the league. But J.R. made a great play, and I was in no man's land."
Said Miley: "If Dunner makes the correct read, he's able to get back. It was an aggressive mistake."
After a fielder's choice, Jason Phillips doubled into the left-field corner to score Kaz Matsui and make it 7-5.
The Reds pulled within one on Dunn's two-out home run, his 24th of the year, in the bottom of ninth.
Miley thought the game was lost much earlier.
"It's easy to look at the eighth and ninth," he said. "But we had earlier opportunities and we didn't execute."
Miley was referring to the second and the fourth.
In the second, Dunn led off with a double. Pena followed with a single. But LaRue struck out, and Tim Hummel hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
In the fourth, Jimenez reached on an error and stole second. Dunn then walked.
They moved to second and third on Pena's groundout. But LaRue popped out to shallow center, and Hummel did to second.
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| New York | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Reyes 2b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .149 |
| Matsui ss | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| Piazza c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .312 |
| JPhillips c | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .214 |
| Floyd lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .282 |
| Bottalico p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Zeile 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .244 |
| Hidalgo rf | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .263 |
| Spencer cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .300 |
| Wigginton 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .262 |
| Valent 1b-lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .264 |
| Leiter p | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 |
| b-McEwing ph-1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .210 |
| Looper p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Totals | 37 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 3 | |
| Cincinnati | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Freel cf-3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .257 |
| JCastro ss | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .303 |
| DJimenez 2b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .253 |
| Dunn lf-1b | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .273 |
| WPena rf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .273 |
| LaRue c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .228 |
| Hummel 1b-3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .276 |
| c-JaCruz ph-lf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .275 |
| Larson 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .213 |
| MMatthews p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| d-Griffey Jr. ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .244 |
| 1-JClark pr-cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .133 |
| JoAcevedo p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .071 |
| GWhite p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| a-Valentin ph-1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .172 |
| Riedling p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 37 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 5 | |
| New York | 000 | 013 | 111 | -7 | 12 | 2 |
| Cincinnati | 000 | 000 | 051 | -6 | 9 | 0 |
E-Wigginton (11), Valent (1). LOB-New York 7, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Matsui (21), Piazza (17), JPhillips (13), Hidalgo (17), Dunn 2 (14), LaRue (11). HR-Dunn (24), off Looper; Hidalgo (8), off MMatthews; Reyes (2), off GWhite; Spencer (3), off JoAcevedo; Valent (5), off JoAcevedo. RBIs-Reyes (6), JPhillips (23), Hidalgo (37), Spencer 3 (17), Valent (17), Dunn 2 (51), WPena (23), LaRue (26), Griffey Jr. (55), Valentin (9). SB-DJimenez (8). GIDP-Matsui, Valent, Hummel.
DP-New York 1 (Wigginton, Reyes and Valent); Cincinnati 2 (JCastro, DJimenez and Hummel), (DJimenez, JCastro and Hummel).
| New York | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Leiter W, 4-2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 116 | 2.12 |
| Bottalico | 2/3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 3.38 |
| Looper S, 15 | 1 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 2.01 |
| Cincinnati | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| JoAcevedo L, 4-7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 89 | 5.34 |
| GWhite | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1.42 |
| MMatthews | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 7.64 |
| Riedling | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3.77 |
Inherited runners-scored-Looper 2-2.
HBP-by Bottalico (JaCruz), by Leiter (Freel).
T-2:58. A-31,633 (42,271).
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