Reds get close win

[CincyRedsFan30]

Reds get close win

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

MIAMI | When it comes to tempting fate, all the Cincinnati Reds can do is kneel in the on-deck circle and whisper, "Deliver us from evil."

On Sunday under sunny skies and fleecy clouds, their pleadings were answered.

The Reds defeated the Florida Marlins, 2-1, avoiding a three-game sweep, but they left temptation strewn all over the grass.

Starter Brandon Claussen was a sliver short of magnificent, no runs, three hits, three walks over 5 1/3 innings.

His temptation was Marlins veteran outfielder Jeff Conine — not once, twice.

With runners on second and third with one out in the second Claussen struck out Conine with a change-up.

With runners on first and second with one out in the fourth Claussen struck out Conine with a fastball away.

Claussen put two more runners on in the sixth and with one out manager Dave Miley replaced him with Joe Valentine.

First Valentine struck out Mike Lowell, then there was Conine again. Valentine got him on a fly to center.

"Those two outs Joe got for us probably were the biggest of the game," said Miley.

Ryan Wagner got the next six outs, all on grounders, to get the Reds to the ninth with a 2-0 lead.

It was closer time, Danny Graves time — and, yes, the 'E' in his last name stands for excitement.

Graves needed 30 pitches to stagger through the ninth and, yes, he gave up another run, but he finished the game in incredible style.

With the tying and winning runs on base, Graves faced Juan Pierre, who strikes out about as often as the arrival of the seven-year itch.

Pitch one: fastball. Taken, strike one.

Pitch two: curveball. Taken, strike two.

Pitch three: curveball, swing and a miss, strike three, game over.

"He must have felt sorry for me," Graves said. "I was hoping he would pop it up and not hit it on the ground and beat it out."

Graves, though, is perfect — seven saves in seven opportunities, despite giving up runs in four of his last six appearances.

"I've been lost for a couple of weeks, but as ugly as they've been, the bottom line is that they are wins," Graves added.

Told it was only the second time in 78 at-bats that Pierre struck out, Graves said, "Yeah, and it probably will be my last strikeout this year."

It was only Graves second strikeout in his 81/3 innings and he said, "I promise you, before the season is over, I'll have another 1-2-3 inning."

Said Pierre, who was 0 for 5, even more rare than his game-ending strikeout, "It happens and I didn't do much right today."

Claussen did, earning him his first victory since August 22 at Arizona, followed by five straight defeats.

"Do I have food all over my face?" Claussen asked. He was told, "No, not even egg on your face."

Then he said, "I didn't have command of my change-up, which usually is my get-out-of-jams pitch, but I was able to locate my fastball to compensate.

"It has been a long time between wins and there was no way I could have gotten it today without the bullpen, especially the way Joe Valentine came in and picked me up," Claussen added.

His offense certainly was neither aid nor comfort. It scored only two runs for the fourth straight time, with the previous three coming in defeats.

The Reds were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, 5 for 50 (.100) in their last five games and have stranded 50 runners.

Both runs were scored by Ryan Freel, who had not scored despite being on base nine times in his four previous starts.

He led the game against Brian Moehler with a single, stole second, moved to third on Ken Griffey Jr.'s grounder and scored on Sean Casey's grounder.

Freel singled in the third and scored on second baseman Damion Easley's throwing error on Casey's infield hit, one of three Casey hits.

[redsrbetter]

Things don't look good at all for this team after reading this article. Graves really, really, really sucks right now. He is giving up a run virtually every outing. I would definitely use Wagner in a one run situation. Get him out of there if he gives up a run before he gets an out as well.

Also, our team not scoring with RISP is pathetic. I hope that since Casey is starting to put things together and Dunn/Pena/Freel have been on fire things may change. Also if Griffey watches Sportscenter and goes to Wrigley field early tomorrow to work on his swing, he might get it going. We could see a drastic change in our offense. Lets hope so.

[CincyRedsFan30]

If it weren't for our offense(or lack thereof) we would probably have two or three more wins right now.

There have already been several games where our pitching SHOULD have been good enough with the lineup we're supposed to have that we probably should have won.

We could easily be (11-7) or (12-6) right now if our offense would have done more.

If our offense can start hitting better and our pitching can pitch like it did against Florida, we might actually find us winning some of these games that we've lost lately.