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Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon
Phillips jumps over Giancarlo Stanton in an attempt to turn a double
play in the second inning Sunday. The Reds won the game 5-4 in 11
innings.
Baker's
defensive switch helps Reds hold on
MIAMI - Reds manager Dusty Baker made two defensive changes before the
bottom half of the 11th inning with the Reds holding a one-run lead
against the Marlins.
Drew Stubbs went to center field and Chris Heisey, who started the game
there, moved over to left for Ryan Ludwick, whose RBI single off Carlos
Zambrano gave Cincinnati the lead in the top half of the frame.
Jonathan Broxton walked Donovan Solano with two outs before John Buck
drilled a ball to straightaway center. Stubbs leapt near the wall in
front of the 418-foot sign for the final out.
Broxton's second save in a Reds uniform salvaged the series finale -- a
5-4 victory over the Marlins on Sunday afternoon in front of 24,983 at
Marlins Park.
"I knew in this ballpark never to give up on it, because it's so deep
out there," said Stubbs, who started the first two games of the series
in center. "We were playing deep to start so the runner couldn't go
from first on a base hit. I was able to get back there in plenty of
time. My only concern I had was that it was going to hit the side of
the wall that juts in. But, fortunately, I was able to come up with
that."
Added Miami shortstop Jose Reyes: "The wall is high, and the ballpark
is big. The ball that Buck hit, that's a home run in any ballpark. So,
I mean, what can we do?"
Zambrano, who fell behind each hitter, allowed a Heisey single and
issued a walk to Joey Votto before Ludwick's grounder found the hole at
short.
Cincinnati currently sits 11 games in front of the Cardinals in the
National League Central, and their magic number to clinch the division
is five.
"Obviously, we lost the first two and we didn't look quite as good as
we have all year long," Ludwick said. "We didn't play our best
baseball. We got the lead and they battled back, tied it up into extra
innings. We really needed this win. It was a big one for us."
Local native Mat Latos, who entered the eighth inning at 95 pitches,
gave up Reyes' two-out RBI double off the wall in right that tied the
game at 4.
Pinch-hitter Austin Kearns singled against his former team to start the
frame, and advanced to second on Bryan Petersen's sacrifice bunt.
The 24-year-old right-hander was searching for his first victory over
the local team. Latos attended nearby Coconut Creek High School and
Broward Community College.
"We had lost two in a row coming in and, again, getting a win is always
good," said Latos, who has struck out eight or more batters in seven
games this season. "I tried my best to keep us in [the game], and I
[wound] up giving up the lead again. It's aggravating. It seems like
it's been the story of the year for me, for the most part. We got a 'W'
and we've got to move forward. That magic number is moving closer and
closer."
The Reds collected three consecutive singles off Marlins starter Ricky
Nolasco, the reigning National League co-Player of the Week, to take a
1-0 lead in the second on Didi Gregorius' first Major League RBI.
Todd Frazier reached an outside pitch that he lost his bat on, but
still singled up the middle. Dioner Navarro followed with a single to
right that put runners on the corners with one out. Gregorius' hit
found the same hole through the infield.
Brandon Phillips' RBI groundout to third made it 2-0 in the fourth
after back-to-back singles by Navarro and Gregorius. Latos moved them
both over with a bunt.
But Latos faced control problems in the bottom half of the inning,
walking Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Lee with two outs before Greg
Dobbs connected on a 1-0 pitch for a broken-bat triple to right that
tied the game.
Navarro's two-out, broken-bat single up the middle in the fifth helped
the Reds regain the lead. Votto and Ludwick started the inning with
back-to-back singles. Jay Bruce struck out swinging and Frazier lined
out to center before Navarro picked up his third hit of the game.
Ludwick's two-out bloop single against Ryan Webb over Reyes' glove in
shallow left scored Phillips to put the Reds up, 4-2, in the sixth.
Miami cut the deficit to 4-3 in the seventh on Solano's sac fly to
center with one out that scored Lee, who led off the inning with a
double.
Despite tying a season high with 17 hits, the Reds struggled to get a
timely hit, leaving 14 men on base. They stranded two runners in five
different innings. Batters 6-8 in the order contributed eight of the 17
total hits.
Read this and other articles at Cincinnati Reds
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