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Jay Bruce is
congratulated after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning of
Game 1 of the National League division baseball series against the San
Francisco Giants in San Francisco, Saturday. The Reds walked away with
a 5-2 victory.
Cincinnati Reds
What a relief:
Reds persevere for Game 1 win
Bullpen steps up after Cueto's injury; Phillips provides big lift
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Reds this season have already persevered when
closer Ryan Madson was lost for the year with an elbow injury in Spring
Training. When a knee injury knocked best player Joey Votto out for six
weeks in July, they rallied and, yes, even prospered.
So what did Cincinnati do when ace Johnny Cueto was overtaken by back
spasms two batters into his Game 1 start of the National League
Division Series at AT&T Park on Saturday night?
They picked each other up and found a way through. In stunning fashion,
the Reds prevented the Giants from capitalizing on their misfortune and
got home runs from Brandon Phillips -- who had three hits and three
RBIs in a big night -- and Jay Bruce. Then they held on to steal a 5-2
win in front of 43,492 vibrant fans and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five
series.
"We're resilient. Tonight kind of epitomized our team," Bruce said.
The victory over Giants ace Matt Cain snapped a seven-game postseason
losing streak for the Reds. Coincidentally, it came on the 17th
anniversary to the day when they won their previous postseason game
over the Dodgers in a Game 3 sweep of the 1995 NLDS.
"It's been that long?" Phillips replied. "It feels good, shows the fans
that we will be playing more games in Cincinnati. All you can do is win
for the city and for your teammates. And we all have the same mission:
to get the ring. And I want to keep on doing that until I get the ring."
Since 1995, when Division Series play began, the NLDS Game 1 winner has
advanced to the League Championship Series 48 times (71 percent).
Cincinnati already has home-field advantage, and the win puts big
pressure on San Francisco to even the series Sunday.
But the 2012 NLDS could not have had a more ominous start for the Reds.
To their dismay, Cueto grimaced in pain as he threw an 0-1 changeup for
a strike to Marco Scutaro, only his eighth pitch of the game.
A 19-game winner in the regular season, Cueto signaled for the trainer
and manager Dusty Baker, who had little choice but to pull his best
pitcher from the game. Baker summoned Sam LeCure, and hoped for the
best.
"You don't like to see a guy hurting, and you say, 'Oh no, what can
happen again, kind of,'" Baker said. "But then you think about what
happened with Joey Votto, and this is a resilient team, and they can
pick each other up and go on."
Votto missed six weeks after needing left knee surgery in mid-July to
repair torn cartilage. The injury, ironically, happened at AT&T
Park when Votto slid into third base on June 30.
Cueto's outing was the new shortest postseason start in club history,
breaking the record by Joey Jay, who lasted two-thirds of an inning
while getting beat up in Game 5 of the 1961 World Series.
"When Johnny went down, I was like, 'Gosh, oh, no, we're done. Why?
Why?'" Phillips said. "And we were out there talking, and we were like,
'Let's win this for Johnny.'"
And that's exactly what they did.
LeCure took over in emergency relief, worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings
and was declared the winner. Then the Reds colored outside the lines
and got creative, tapping probable Game 3 starter Mat Latos to take
over in the third inning.
As Cueto exited, Latos did not hesitate in volunteering his services.
Keep in mind that he was working on three days' rest since his final
regular-season start and had thrown a 20-pitch bullpen session earlier
on Saturday. Oh, and he's never pitched in relief as a Major Leaguer
with 105 career starts.
"We're a family," Latos said. "Joey went down earlier in the year, and
we got closer and closer. [Now] Johnny went down and as a pitching
staff, we've got to get closer. We've got to get together, and we've
got to pitch like we've been pitching all year."
Latos came up big with four innings of work. While allowing four hits,
the only run he gave up came in the sixth inning, when Buster Posey hit
a leadoff homer on the first pitch.
Familiarity was on Latos' side as he was 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in two
starts vs. the Giants this season and had a 2.19 ERA over 11 career
starts -- mostly as a member of the Padres.
"I'm comfortable in this ballpark, and I've pitched here for 2 1/2
years," said Latos, who was 14-4 with a 3.48 ERA in the regular season.
"It wasn't any surprise, other than me pitching. I know what to expect
from this ballpark. I know what to expect from this lineup that I was
facing. I've had great success against them."
In a key emotional lift with one out in the third inning, Phillips
slugged Cain's 1-2 curveball for a two-run homer to the left-field
seats for a 2-0 lead. It ended Cain's 23 1/3-innings streak of not
allowing an earned run...
Read the rest of this article at the Cincinnati Reds
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