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Belisle, Freel answer early wake-up call
Pitcher strong in emergency start; Freel gets four hits as Reds sweep Nationals
By Marc Katz
Dayton Daily News
CINCINNATI | Players straggled in late Wednesday morning following a late, late Tuesday night game, so there wasn't much time to talk in the Reds' clubhouse.
One player, Ryan Freel, saw manager Dave Miley, flashed the thumbs up sign and said, "I'm locked in today."
Another, pitcher Matt Belisle, was told he'd be the stand-in starter and thought the messengers were kidding.
Later, the talk was more free flowing as Freel collected four hits — including two doubles and a homer — and Belisle pitched two-run ball over six innings. The Reds extended their winning streak to three games, 12-3, over the Washington Nationals in front of 20,497 fans at Great American Ball Park.
Belisle was on the mound because expected starter Aaron Harang showed up with flu-like symptoms, becoming a late-morning scratch.
"He (Belisle) was the only (available) guy who didn't pitch last night," Miley said, referring to the 14-inning, 7-pitcher affair. "And he got up once and heated up a little. He gave us what we needed."
Brad Wilkerson greeted Belisle with a double off the left field wall to start the game and two batters later Belisle hit Nick Johnson, but the Nationals didn't score in the inning. Belisle gave up a run in the fourth on three hits — the third one a run-scoring dribbler that didn't make it halfway to third, and a Jose Guillen homer to lead off the sixth.
By that time, the Reds had six runs themselves.
"I got here about 11:10 (for a 12:35 game)," Belisle said, "and (clubhouse and equipment manager) Rick Stowe said, 'Congratulations.' Then (coach) Tom Hume said I was starting, but he's a prankster."
When pitching coach Don Gullett confirmed what Stowe and Hume said, Belisle knew it was true.
He also knew he did it once before this season with good results and said, "It shouldn't be any different if you do know or don't know. I thought I'd pitch today (in relief). We came up with some big hits and solid defense, too."
Big hits were everywhere, but no one had more than Freel, who opened the game with a hit to right, scoring moments later on Felipe Lopez' sixth homer.
Freel batted with two out in the second, doubled to left, was part of a double steal and scored on an errant throw by catcher Gary Bennett trying to get him at third.
Freel doubled again with two out in the fourth. With one out in the sixth, he cranked his first homer of the season to left, knocking in his third run.
In Cincinnati's five-run eighth that put the game out of reach, he grounded out twice, but was given a nice ovation by the fans after the first one.
"I've never had that happen in my career," Freel said. "It kind of gave me the chills. No, it gave me the chills. You see people getting standing 'O's' after a couple of home runs. These people are so attuned to the game and what's going on. There's no better place to play than Cincinnati."
Freel, who started at third base (and made two nice plays that were also cheered by the fans) and ended in left field, began the game with a .314 batting average, ending it at .333.
Still, he felt compelled to make some "adjustments" to his swing, and when he did, he told Miley how well he was feeling.
Just think how good Miley feels right now.
Contact Marc Katz at 937-225-2157.
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