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Reds end rough road trip with loss in Texas
reds.com
ARLINGTON -- A road trip that was only eight games, but lasted 10 days
over three cities, felt like an eternity to the Reds. As much could be
said about the club's entire month of June.
Both the trip and the month are now over, but not before one final
disappointment. A 3-2 loss to the Rangers on Sunday completed a 2-6
road trip through Arizona, Oakland and Texas and gave the Reds losses
in seven of their last nine games.
"We definitely expected better," right fielder Jay Bruce said. "Now we
get to go home and start a new month and start a new homestand, and
play better."
When things are going wrong, it seems like a team can get creative in
the ways it loses. On Sunday, the Rangers' first two runs scored on one
squeeze bunt by Elvis Andrus in the fifth inning.
"I've never seen two runs score on a squeeze. That was a weird play,"
Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
It was a scoreless tie when the Rangers' fifth started with Engel
Beltre's bunt single toward second base against starter Mat Latos.
Leonys Martin followed with a double to right-center field that put
runners on second and third with no outs.
With one out, Andrus dropped a suicide squeeze bunt toward the mound.
As Beltre bolted for the plate, Latos made a barehanded grab and flip
to the plate. The ball hit Beltre in the face and got away as he
collided with Devin Mesoraco and scored. That allowed Martin to also
score.
"It was just a reaction," Latos said. "It was bunted pretty hard, and I
thought I could make a play on it. I just kind of made a bad throw. I
put Mesoraco in a pretty crappy situation to get hit like that. Looking
back at it, I should have just held on to the ball."
"I was just trying to look for space to slide in," Beltre said. "I
couldn't get that space, so I tried to get on him. I think it was
knee-to-knee on the play, because I didn't have enough space."
The play was ruled a sacrifice bunt and an RBI, with an error charged
to Latos that allowed the second run to score. Baker wasn't surprised
that his counterpart, Rangers skipper Ron Washington, ordered the bunt.
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