Thursday, July 3, 1997
Boone bats Reds
to sweep

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BY TIM BROWN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Deion Sanders steals third base as Brewers' third baseman Jeff Cirillo tries for the tag in the fifth. (AP photo). | ZOOM |

It wasn't much, really, this flared base hit that just cleared the glove of Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Jose Valentin.

But that hit belonged to Bret Boone, and it underscored everything that went right for the Reds in their first three-game sweep this season.

Boonewas drowning in the longest slump of his career, an 0-for-26 thing that included stops in four towns, Indianapolis not included. He had a couple of hits there.

This particular single drove in a pair of runs on a soaking hot Wednesday afternoon as the Reds defeated the Brewers 7-4 in an interleague game at Cinergy Field. Boone's hit came with two out and two runners in scoring position, in the fourth inning of a game previously tied at one.

This was no jolt, and the at-bats that followed for Boone provided little evidence that his slump had run its course. But it fell in the middle of the final game of a series that showcased some of the best baseball the Reds can play. The Reds have won six of their nine interleague games.

Rookie right-hander Brett Tomko (5-1) allowed three runs in six innings for his fifth consecutive victory. Ray Knight, managing his first game this season with the luxury of a complete game behind him, had right-hander Scott Sullivan pitch the final three innings for his first career save.

The Reds, who lead the National League in fielding percentage, did not commit an error in the series.

But the Reds had done these things before. They had run quality starts and sturdy relief innings together, with varying results. They had defended consistently, despite the occasional position peculiarity.

What made this series for the Reds was Boone's two-out, run-scoring single. Timely, bleacher-seeking hits by Joe Oliver. A grand slam by Terry Pendleton. Six hits and five runs from Hal Morris.

In the series finale, the Reds scored six runs on two-out base hits. In the entire series, 14 of their 20 runs came with two out. This from a club that has struggled to maintain a .200 batting average with runners in scoring position.

About a year ago, then-Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda pulled a frustrated Knight aside and said, "You're going to find out that the key to winning ballgames is two-out hits."

For the past two months, the Reds haven't had them. For two months, all the pitching and defense on their roster amounted to mediocre baseball. And when those hits fell, as they did for three games, the Reds became a little more dynamic.

"I've always had that in the back of my mind, thinking as bad as we were, maybe we could turn it around," Knight said. "We have to do a lot of hitting to catch up, but we did that in this series." On Wednesday afternoon alone, the Reds had eight two-out hits. Four of them scored runs. After two were out in the fourth inning against Brewers starter Ben McDonald (6-6), Morris singled, Oliver doubled, Boone singled and Pokey Reese doubled.

From a 1-1 score, the Reds went up 4-3 - and never gave back the lead.

"It's nice to get a big hit and help the team to win a game," Boone said.

The former .320 hitter paused for a moment, considered the cameras and the microphones and the notepads at his locker, and smiled. "It's funny," he said. "I'm sitting here talking about one hit."

Leading 5-3, the Reds went a long way toward their sweep with two out in the seventh, when Pendleton singled, Mike Kelly doubled and Morris drove them both home with a chopper into center field. "It's been the difference," said Oliver, who caught all three games of the series, and had four hits and five RBI against the staff he once caught. "Cut and dry, it's the clutch hits. The bottom line, more games are decided on two-out hits than anything else."

Even Barry Larkin, still nursing his strained left calf, called it, "The difference in the series. We played good defense and got two-out hits."

The Reds outhit the Brewers 29-18, and outscored them 20-8. The 14 two-out RBI?

"As remarkable as it was unremarkable before," Knight said. The Reds are 22-15 in their last 37 games, and 20-10 in that span against everybody but the St. Louis Cardinals.

They left afterward for four games in Houston, their last before the All-Star Game.

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