Reds fall Downs against Astros
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
CINCINNATI — Even the Cincinnati Reds can't win them all.
Unable to score a run to continue the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Reds suffered their first loss of the season, falling to the Houston Astros, 3-2 on a sunny afternoon at Great American Ball Park.
This time the Reds were unable to have all the late-inning heroics, as the problem for the Reds was the Astros scored a run in the ninth, giving them their first win of the season in six tries.
The game-winning run came when Brett Wallace scored on a double by Matt Downs, on a breaking pitch over the plate, with two outs in the Astros' half of the inning off reliever Nick Masset.
"I had a lot of situations where I could have easily had a ground ball or had a pitch to get out of that jam. I pitched some good pitches, but they put some good swings on it," Masset said. "Altogether, one pitch and I could have got out of that."
Masset (0-1) was charged with the loss. The right-hander pitched two innings of relief, allowing one earned run on four hits and one walk. He struck out two.
"
He's throwing the ball as well as he's ever thrown the ball, he just hung a breaking ball," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We just got beat today."
The winning pitcher was Fernando Abad, gaining his first career win. The save went to Brandon Lyon, his first of the season.
Abad pitched 1 1-3 innings of relief, allowing no runs, one hit and one walk. Lyon allowed two hits in the ninth.
"We had opportunities, they had opportunities, we had more than they did," Baker said. "We're not going to win every game, and we're certainly not going to lose every game.
"A five-win home stand … I'll take that every time. Five out of six, that's a pretty good record."
Cincinnati trailed 2-1 through six innings; that was until Scott Rolen stepped to the plate, tying the score in the bottom of the seventh, with a pinch-hit, one-out solo home run that sailed 308 feet, over the left field wall, on an 0-1 count.
The home run was given up by Houston starter Brett Meyers. For his career against Myers, Rolen is batting over .400 with nine hits, including two home runs in 20 at-bats.
Myers left the game following Rolen's home run, pitching 6 1-3 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits and three walks. The right-hander had four strikeouts.
After Rolen rounded the bases, Brandon Phillips hit a two-out single, followed with a base hit by Joey Votto, but the Reds were unable to cross any more runs across the plate for the remainder of the game.
The Reds are off to their best start in recent memory, winning their first five games of the season, something that hasn't been accomplished in the Queen City since the 1990 team that won the World Series.
"We've continued to do what we did before, and that is win at home," Baker said. "We came back and had to win a couple of them and were in position to win (today). They all count, and you want to have good months.
"You want every month to be a good month. If you can do that, September will take care of itself. We are one step closer to the finish line, but the finish line is a long ways away. But every game you play is one step closer to it."
The Astros struck first with the first at-bat of the first inning when Jason Bourgeois singled to left field. He stole second, scoring on a one-out ground out to short by Hunter Pence.
Houston (1-5) added their second run in the top part of the fourth, starting when Carlos Lee hustled his way to a lead-off triple, hitting the ball into deep right-center field. Lee scored with an RBI from Brett Wallace on a ground out to the short stop.
Cincinnati scored their first run in the second inning, tying the score at one, when Edgar Renteria doubled in Jonny Gomes from first, with a one-out blast to centerfield. Renteria finished 3-for-3 with a walk.
Reds starting pitcher Sam LeCure had a solid outing in his first start of the season. LeCure, who gets the no-decision, pitched five innings of three-hit, two-run baseball with two walks and a career-high six strikeouts.
"I felt pretty good, I was getting tired there towards the end obviously, but I got trust in Dusty and (pitching coach) Brian (Price) to protect me in those regards. I was just going to go out there and give it my all until I thought it was time," LeCure said. "I was fairly pleased, but a couple times I got a bit complacent out there, and I think that cost us."
LeCure talked about the at-bat against Lee where he hit the lead-off triple in the fourth.
"It was one of those get-me-over fastballs. That was the first pitch of the at-bat, and I thought I'd steal a strike," LeCure said. "I didn't think he'd be ready to go, but he was … I thought he'd hit it out and I was looking at the home plate umpire for another ball. I was surprised it stayed in.
"Just little things like that, in hindsight, they end up costing you. Having a guy on third with no outs, it's tough to pitch around. It's just another reminder you have to keep your focus every pitch, every pitch matters, and that was another one that did."
Now the Reds (5-1) travel to Arizona where they will embark on a six-game road slate, ending with three games in San Diego, before returning to Cincinnati on Friday, April 15 when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Before last season, the Reds struggled at times when traveling to the West Coast, and Baker spoke about the upcoming road trip.
"It is important to play well no matter where you go, especially against some teams that will probably be somewhere in the hunt for the playoffs," he said. "We played better there last year, but we want to play even better there this year. We want to play better against some teams who had winning records last year and then continue to hopefully beat the teams who didn't have winning records.
"No matter where we are going, we just have to beat everybody that is there on the way."
GAME NOTES: Tomorrow the Reds will play in Arizona, where Travis Wood (1-0, 1.29) will face Ian Kennedy (0-0, 4.50)... Rolen's home run was his fourth career pinch-hit home run. The home run was the only HR by the Reds in the Houston series … Both teams hit into a double play … Votto has hit safely in the first six games this season … Drew Stubbs broke his 13-game hitting streak dating back to last season … The Reds have committed just one error this season … Lee has two triples in '11 … Game attendance was 20,014 … Time of game was 2:53.[[In-content Ad]]
Unable to score a run to continue the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Reds suffered their first loss of the season, falling to the Houston Astros, 3-2 on a sunny afternoon at Great American Ball Park.
This time the Reds were unable to have all the late-inning heroics, as the problem for the Reds was the Astros scored a run in the ninth, giving them their first win of the season in six tries.
The game-winning run came when Brett Wallace scored on a double by Matt Downs, on a breaking pitch over the plate, with two outs in the Astros' half of the inning off reliever Nick Masset.
"I had a lot of situations where I could have easily had a ground ball or had a pitch to get out of that jam. I pitched some good pitches, but they put some good swings on it," Masset said. "Altogether, one pitch and I could have got out of that."
Masset (0-1) was charged with the loss. The right-hander pitched two innings of relief, allowing one earned run on four hits and one walk. He struck out two.
"
He's throwing the ball as well as he's ever thrown the ball, he just hung a breaking ball," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We just got beat today."
The winning pitcher was Fernando Abad, gaining his first career win. The save went to Brandon Lyon, his first of the season.
Abad pitched 1 1-3 innings of relief, allowing no runs, one hit and one walk. Lyon allowed two hits in the ninth.
"We had opportunities, they had opportunities, we had more than they did," Baker said. "We're not going to win every game, and we're certainly not going to lose every game.
"A five-win home stand … I'll take that every time. Five out of six, that's a pretty good record."
Cincinnati trailed 2-1 through six innings; that was until Scott Rolen stepped to the plate, tying the score in the bottom of the seventh, with a pinch-hit, one-out solo home run that sailed 308 feet, over the left field wall, on an 0-1 count.
The home run was given up by Houston starter Brett Meyers. For his career against Myers, Rolen is batting over .400 with nine hits, including two home runs in 20 at-bats.
Myers left the game following Rolen's home run, pitching 6 1-3 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits and three walks. The right-hander had four strikeouts.
After Rolen rounded the bases, Brandon Phillips hit a two-out single, followed with a base hit by Joey Votto, but the Reds were unable to cross any more runs across the plate for the remainder of the game.
The Reds are off to their best start in recent memory, winning their first five games of the season, something that hasn't been accomplished in the Queen City since the 1990 team that won the World Series.
"We've continued to do what we did before, and that is win at home," Baker said. "We came back and had to win a couple of them and were in position to win (today). They all count, and you want to have good months.
"You want every month to be a good month. If you can do that, September will take care of itself. We are one step closer to the finish line, but the finish line is a long ways away. But every game you play is one step closer to it."
The Astros struck first with the first at-bat of the first inning when Jason Bourgeois singled to left field. He stole second, scoring on a one-out ground out to short by Hunter Pence.
Houston (1-5) added their second run in the top part of the fourth, starting when Carlos Lee hustled his way to a lead-off triple, hitting the ball into deep right-center field. Lee scored with an RBI from Brett Wallace on a ground out to the short stop.
Cincinnati scored their first run in the second inning, tying the score at one, when Edgar Renteria doubled in Jonny Gomes from first, with a one-out blast to centerfield. Renteria finished 3-for-3 with a walk.
Reds starting pitcher Sam LeCure had a solid outing in his first start of the season. LeCure, who gets the no-decision, pitched five innings of three-hit, two-run baseball with two walks and a career-high six strikeouts.
"I felt pretty good, I was getting tired there towards the end obviously, but I got trust in Dusty and (pitching coach) Brian (Price) to protect me in those regards. I was just going to go out there and give it my all until I thought it was time," LeCure said. "I was fairly pleased, but a couple times I got a bit complacent out there, and I think that cost us."
LeCure talked about the at-bat against Lee where he hit the lead-off triple in the fourth.
"It was one of those get-me-over fastballs. That was the first pitch of the at-bat, and I thought I'd steal a strike," LeCure said. "I didn't think he'd be ready to go, but he was … I thought he'd hit it out and I was looking at the home plate umpire for another ball. I was surprised it stayed in.
"Just little things like that, in hindsight, they end up costing you. Having a guy on third with no outs, it's tough to pitch around. It's just another reminder you have to keep your focus every pitch, every pitch matters, and that was another one that did."
Now the Reds (5-1) travel to Arizona where they will embark on a six-game road slate, ending with three games in San Diego, before returning to Cincinnati on Friday, April 15 when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Before last season, the Reds struggled at times when traveling to the West Coast, and Baker spoke about the upcoming road trip.
"It is important to play well no matter where you go, especially against some teams that will probably be somewhere in the hunt for the playoffs," he said. "We played better there last year, but we want to play even better there this year. We want to play better against some teams who had winning records last year and then continue to hopefully beat the teams who didn't have winning records.
"No matter where we are going, we just have to beat everybody that is there on the way."
GAME NOTES: Tomorrow the Reds will play in Arizona, where Travis Wood (1-0, 1.29) will face Ian Kennedy (0-0, 4.50)... Rolen's home run was his fourth career pinch-hit home run. The home run was the only HR by the Reds in the Houston series … Both teams hit into a double play … Votto has hit safely in the first six games this season … Drew Stubbs broke his 13-game hitting streak dating back to last season … The Reds have committed just one error this season … Lee has two triples in '11 … Game attendance was 20,014 … Time of game was 2:53.[[In-content Ad]]