They were pretty strong at the finish Wednesday night. Javier Valentin capped a five-run ninth with a three-run homer off Atlanta closer John Smoltz, as the Reds came back twice to beat the Braves 11-8 before a crowd of 19,573 at Turner Field.

Felipe Lopez led off the ninth with a single. He moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Sean Casey's single.

Casey also moved up on a wild pitch. After Adam Dunn struck out, D'Angelo Jimenez doubled to tie it. The Braves intentionally walked Jacob Cruz.

Valentin followed with his sixth home run of the year.

The Reds came back from a 2-0 deficit to go up 6-2 only to blow the lead and fall behind 8-6.

Starter Josh Hancock couldn't keep the ball down in the first inning. The result was three walks, a home run by Marcus Giles and a 2-0 Atlanta lead.

The Reds tied it in the second on an RBI double from Jimenez and an RBI groundout from Anderson Machado.

Dunn got the Reds the lead with an RBI single in the third.

The Reds got three gift runs in the fourth. With Valentin at first, Machado bunted back to pitcher Paul Byrd, who made a diving stop but threw wildly to first. Valentin and Machado were off to the races. First baseman Adam LaRoche retrieved the ball and threw a high floater toward home, but it went to the backstop, allowing Machado and Valentin to score.

After the Machado play, the Reds strung together three straight singles to make it 6-2.

Hancock got on a serious roll after the first, retiring 13 in a row. But the string ended with Hancock giving up three runs in the sixth.

The Braves took the lead on Chipper Jones' three-run, two-out homer off John Riedling in the seventh. Jones' 30th home run of the year made it 8-6.

Closer-of-the-moment Joe Valentine worked the ninth for his second save.

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

Return to Reds front page...