Reds' late rally soaks Mets
07/20/2006
CINCINNATI -- A pair of Hollywood heavyweights were among those who endured a long night at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday.
But though actor Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard were among the 26,300 in attendance, it was the ensemble cast of the Reds' bullpen that provided one of the "tour de force" performances of the summer in a 7-4 win over the Mets.
New York jumped out to a 4-0 lead off Cincinnati starter Aaron Harang by the second inning before a burst of heavy thundershowers rolled through and delayed the game for two hours and 23 minutes.
On the other side of the delay, Harang was out of the game, and six members of the Reds' bullpen came up big, stringing together seven scoreless innings while the lineup chipped away at the deficit. Jason LaRue's two-run double in the eighth provided the go-ahead runs.
"You can't say enough about the way our bullpen pitched tonight," said third baseman Rich Aurilia, whose fifth-inning solo home run tied the game at 4 and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. "They kept them off the board after the second inning, and we had some big defensive plays, too. Any time you do that, you're going to win a lot of ballgames. We beat a good team tonight."
Two enthusiastic thumbs-up also came from manager Jerry Narron.
"The bullpen [was] outstanding," Narron said. "Every one of them."
Coming off back-to-back solid starts, Harang did not look as strong, allowing four earned runs and four hits in just two innings. There was no consideration of bringing him back when play resumed.
"I really did not want to send him back out there after a two-hour delay," Narron said. "There was no way he was going to go back out there. If it had been September, he probably would have gone back out, but not in July."
Following Harang's departure, it was plausible that the game could have gotten out of hand. The Mets entered second in the National League in runs scored. The Reds came in with the league's worst bullpen ERA, at 5.20.
The players didn't buy into the potential typecasting.
"Bullpens go through ups and downs," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Just because they've struggled doesn't mean they're going to struggle all the time. They did their job tonight."
Jason Standridge halted the Mets with two scoreless innings. David Weathers followed with the next two, which included working out of a sixth inning in which he allowed three walks. After Kent Mercker's scoreless seventh, Bill Bray gave up a leadoff double and a one-out walk in the eighth.
Todd Coffey (5-4) faced one batter and finished the eighth for the win. Eddie Guardado's perfect ninth earned him his fourth save.
The game ended at 12:28 a.m. ET on Thursday, just a little more than 12 hours before the two teams will meet again to complete the series.
"That lineup has everything," LaRue said of the Mets. "They've got power. They've got speed. They hit and run. They bunt. I was impressed that we went out there and played the game that we did, especially as long a night as it was. It was outstanding to see the bullpen shut that offense down."
Mets starter Steve Trachsel returned after the rain but was knocked out when Cincinnati rallied for three runs in the fourth on an RBI single from Brandon Phillips and a two-run single by pinch-hitter Edwin Encarnacion. Aurilia's homer came against reliever Darren Oliver.
In addition to nearly exhausting his bullpen, Narron needed several pinch-hitters and used all of his position players, too. A reporter told the manager that he looked spent after the game.
"Just a little bit," he replied. "When you start pinch-hitting in the second inning, [you're] trying to figure out ways to get through it to give yourself a chance to win."
They got their chance in the eighth. Scott Hatteberg was on second base with one out when Royce Clayton grounded to shortstop. In a fielder's-choice play, New York's Jose Reyes fired to third base to get Hatteberg, but his throw was not in time.
Swinging on a 3-0 pitch from Duaner Sanchez (5-1), LaRue followed with a two-run double near the left-field foul line. Narron gave LaRue the green light to swing on the 3-0 count.
"I was just looking for a fastball over the plate to just try and get a sacrifice fly," LaRue said. "With the way they were pitching to me, that might be the only pitch that was good to swing at."
Pinch-hitter Javier Valentin added an RBI single for an insurance run.
"It was a team effort tonight," Narron said. "We used everybody -- all the position guys -- and we used everybody in the bullpen except [Gary] Majewski. That's a pretty good feeling when you use everybody to get a win."
Source: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/
CINCINNATI -- A pair of Hollywood heavyweights were among those who endured a long night at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday.
But though actor Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard were among the 26,300 in attendance, it was the ensemble cast of the Reds' bullpen that provided one of the "tour de force" performances of the summer in a 7-4 win over the Mets.
New York jumped out to a 4-0 lead off Cincinnati starter Aaron Harang by the second inning before a burst of heavy thundershowers rolled through and delayed the game for two hours and 23 minutes.
On the other side of the delay, Harang was out of the game, and six members of the Reds' bullpen came up big, stringing together seven scoreless innings while the lineup chipped away at the deficit. Jason LaRue's two-run double in the eighth provided the go-ahead runs.
"You can't say enough about the way our bullpen pitched tonight," said third baseman Rich Aurilia, whose fifth-inning solo home run tied the game at 4 and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. "They kept them off the board after the second inning, and we had some big defensive plays, too. Any time you do that, you're going to win a lot of ballgames. We beat a good team tonight."
Two enthusiastic thumbs-up also came from manager Jerry Narron.
"The bullpen [was] outstanding," Narron said. "Every one of them."
Coming off back-to-back solid starts, Harang did not look as strong, allowing four earned runs and four hits in just two innings. There was no consideration of bringing him back when play resumed.
"I really did not want to send him back out there after a two-hour delay," Narron said. "There was no way he was going to go back out there. If it had been September, he probably would have gone back out, but not in July."
Following Harang's departure, it was plausible that the game could have gotten out of hand. The Mets entered second in the National League in runs scored. The Reds came in with the league's worst bullpen ERA, at 5.20.
The players didn't buy into the potential typecasting.
"Bullpens go through ups and downs," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Just because they've struggled doesn't mean they're going to struggle all the time. They did their job tonight."
Jason Standridge halted the Mets with two scoreless innings. David Weathers followed with the next two, which included working out of a sixth inning in which he allowed three walks. After Kent Mercker's scoreless seventh, Bill Bray gave up a leadoff double and a one-out walk in the eighth.
Todd Coffey (5-4) faced one batter and finished the eighth for the win. Eddie Guardado's perfect ninth earned him his fourth save.
The game ended at 12:28 a.m. ET on Thursday, just a little more than 12 hours before the two teams will meet again to complete the series.
"That lineup has everything," LaRue said of the Mets. "They've got power. They've got speed. They hit and run. They bunt. I was impressed that we went out there and played the game that we did, especially as long a night as it was. It was outstanding to see the bullpen shut that offense down."
Mets starter Steve Trachsel returned after the rain but was knocked out when Cincinnati rallied for three runs in the fourth on an RBI single from Brandon Phillips and a two-run single by pinch-hitter Edwin Encarnacion. Aurilia's homer came against reliever Darren Oliver.
In addition to nearly exhausting his bullpen, Narron needed several pinch-hitters and used all of his position players, too. A reporter told the manager that he looked spent after the game.
"Just a little bit," he replied. "When you start pinch-hitting in the second inning, [you're] trying to figure out ways to get through it to give yourself a chance to win."
They got their chance in the eighth. Scott Hatteberg was on second base with one out when Royce Clayton grounded to shortstop. In a fielder's-choice play, New York's Jose Reyes fired to third base to get Hatteberg, but his throw was not in time.
Swinging on a 3-0 pitch from Duaner Sanchez (5-1), LaRue followed with a two-run double near the left-field foul line. Narron gave LaRue the green light to swing on the 3-0 count.
"I was just looking for a fastball over the plate to just try and get a sacrifice fly," LaRue said. "With the way they were pitching to me, that might be the only pitch that was good to swing at."
Pinch-hitter Javier Valentin added an RBI single for an insurance run.
"It was a team effort tonight," Narron said. "We used everybody -- all the position guys -- and we used everybody in the bullpen except [Gary] Majewski. That's a pretty good feeling when you use everybody to get a win."
Source: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/
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