By John Erardi
Enquirer staff writer
Cincinnati's Adam Dunn launched his 38th home run of the season to tie the Reds' game with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth inning Friday night, but that's as good as it got for the home team.
The Diamondbacks' Alex Cintron singled home Andy Green for the go-ahead run in the 11th inning, giving Arizona a 4-3 victory before 23,498 fans at Great American Ball Park Friday night.
Reds reliever Joe Valentine (1-3) took the loss.
With one out in the 11th, Arizona's Green tripled high off the right-field wall despite a great effort by Reds outfielder Austin Kearns, who slammed into it and couldn't hang onto the ball.
"I had it in the tip of my glove, but as soon as I hit the wall it came out," Kearns said.
Both Green and Kearns are from Lexington. The loudest roar was for Green, who had 30 people on the pass list and 150 more who paid their way in.
Green is a bit older than Kearns. "I heard a lot about him," Green said. "He was the talk of the town."
The Reds could have used a couple more home runs besides Dunn's.
The guys, the chicks, the kids - everybody except the pitchers who give them up - dig the long ball, which is why the Reds are still putting some fans in the seats.
"We need to take better advantage of these (quality) starts we're getting," said Kearns, referring to Reds starter Brandon Claussen, who give up only three earned runs in his six innings.
But there's quality, and then there's quality.
Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb gave up only two earned runs in his 6 1/3 innings).
Webb, 25, is just another in a long line of good arms the Reds have managed to miss over the years. Four years ago, he was pitching only 70 miles away from Cincinnati in Lexington at the University of Kentucky when the Diamondbacks plucked him in the eighth round of the draft.
Webb was born and raised in Ashland, Ky., where he makes his offseason home. He looked at home Friday night, pitching in front of family and friends.
Webb, who throws a "heavy" sinker that produces a lot of groundballs, gave up only two fly outs and struck out eight, walking two.
"He's got as good a sinker as anybody in baseball - he's tough," Kearns said.
Claussen was a bit more hittable than Webb (allowing eight) and his stuff wasn't as dominant (four strikeouts), but he kept the Reds in the game.
The Reds, who went into the seventh inning trailing 3-1, cut their deficit to a run on a pinch-hit double off the left-center field wall by Jacob Cruz off Webb.
The Reds got the scoring started in the first inning with back-to-back two-out doubles by first baseman Sean Casey and Dunn.
The Diamondbacks tied it in the second on consecutive singles by Shea Hillenbrand and Scott Hairston. Hillenbrand scoring on a wild pitch by Claussen.
Arizona went up 2-1 in the fourth on a solo home run into the Reds bullpen by center fielder Luis Terrero, and ahead 3-1 on an RBI single to center by Alex Cintron.
That run was a gift, because it was set up by a fly ball to left-center that Reds center fielder Wily Mo Pena should have caught.
"I guess he called Dunner off, and basically didn't get to the ball," said Reds manager Dave Miley.
| Arizona | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| McCracken lf | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .299 |
| Cintron ss | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .247 |
| DBautista rf | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .299 |
| Hillenbrand 1b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .302 |
| Hairston 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .266 |
| Terrero cf | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .294 |
| Tracy 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .288 |
| Koplove p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Baerga ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .214 |
| Bruney p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Aquino p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Snyder c | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .176 |
| Webb p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .093 |
| Nance p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| AGreen 3b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Totals | 43 | 4 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 7 | |
| Cincinnati | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Freel 3b-2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .273 |
| FLopez ss | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .241 |
| Casey 1b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .337 |
| Dunn lf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .275 |
| DJimenez 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .260 |
| Van Poppel p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .125 |
| WPena cf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .253 |
| Kearns rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .208 |
| Valentin c | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .217 |
| Claussen p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .091 |
| GWhite p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| JaCruz ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .240 |
| RWagner p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| Vander Wal ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .143 |
| Valentine p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| JCastro 3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .245 |
| Totals | 40 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 14 | |
| Arizona | 010 | 110 | 000 | 01 | -4 | 13 | 1 |
| Cincinnati | 100 | 000 | 110 | 00 | -3 | 7 | 0 |
E-Tracy (21). LOB-Arizona 12, Cincinnati 8. 2B-McCracken (10), Casey (40), Dunn (26), JaCruz (7). 3B-AGreen (1). HR-Dunn (38), off Nance; Terrero (2), off Claussen. RBIs-Cintron 2 (42), Terrero (7), Dunn 2 (80), JaCruz (24). SB-Terrero (5), Freel (28). S-Hairston. GIDP-Cintron, Hillenbrand, Kearns.
DP-Arizona 1 (Koplove, Cintron and Hillenbrand); Cincinnati 2 (Casey, FLopez and Casey), (JCastro, Valentin and Casey).
| Arizona | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Webb | 6 1/3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 97 | 3.67 |
| Nance BS, 1 | 2/3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 3.86 |
| Koplove | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4.14 |
| Bruney W, 3-3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 3.57 |
| Aquino S, 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 2.91 |
| Cincinnati | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Claussen | 6 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 104 | 5.14 |
| GWhite | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6.37 |
| RWagner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 29 | 4.57 |
| Valentine L, 1-3 | 1 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 7.71 |
| Van Poppel | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6.11 |
Nance pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.
Inherited runners-scored-Koplove 1-0, Nance 3-0, Van Poppel 2-0.
IBB-off RWagner (Tracy) 1. WP-Claussen 2.
Umpires-Home, Jeff Nelson; First, Chris Guccione; Second, Marty Foster; Third, Joe Brinkman.
T-3:31. A-23,498 (42,271).
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