Reds look to reserves, fall to Astros

CINCINNATI — One day after clinching the NL Central Division title for the first time in 15 years, it was a day of rest for the Cincinnati Reds starters. 

Most of the game, that is. 

All eight field positions were filled by regular bench players Wednesday evening as the Reds were defeated by the Houston Astros, 2-0, in front of 14,760 fans at Great American Ball Park. 

While trailing by two runs late in the game, the regular starters retuned to the lineup. The Reds brought out all their bullets from the seventh inning on. Jay Bruce batted in the seventh. Scott Rolen and Brandon Phillips went to the plate in the eighth. Orlando Cabrera, Ramon Hernandez, and Joey Votto batted in the ninth. Drew Stubbs was a pinch runner for Laynce Nix in that same inning. 

The late inning changes to the lineup gave hope to the crowd at GABP. 

That hope was a little too late. 

"We called upon a lot of them," Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We were trying to win the game, but I haven't seen many teams win the game after they have clinched too much, the next day especially. Tomorrow I'll have most of my 'A' team back out there and give it a better shot. 

"We'll come back tomorrow, we have four games left and we'll try to win those four games." 

Cincinnati's original lineup Wednesday had five hits before the replacements entered the game in the seventh inning. 

It wasn't that the Reds had trouble getting on the bases with their 'B' team, it was that they had trouble bringing them home, as the Reds left nine runners on the bases. 

Johnny Cueto (12-7) pitched seven innings, suffering the tough luck loss. He finished allowing two runs (one earned) on eight hits, one balk and zero walks for the quality start. 

"Johnny was sharp, and we've been trying to get him off that 12th victory for a long time,"  Baker said.

Cueto's last win was on Aug. 27 in an 8-inning effort against the Chicago Cubs. He's lost 5 of his last 6 decisions. 

"That's a month, so he's due to reel off some real good streaks here if he keeps pitching like he did (Wednesday). We know we are going to score some runs," Baker said. 

It was an improvement from his previous outing in Milwaukee, his worst outing of the season. 

Against the Brewers on Sept. 22 he suffered the loss after pitching 1.1 innings, allowing eight runs (all earned) on eight hits and three walks, causing a bit of panic concerning his spot in the rotation once the playoffs begin next week. 

Houston starting pircher Nelson Figueroa (6-4) tossed 6.2 innings, allowing no runs on six hits and three walks for the win. The right-hander did have two wild pitches. Coming into the game he had two straight losses. 

The Astros scored their two runs in the first and seventh innings. 

Carlos Lee put his Astros on the scoreboard with a two-out double to right field in the first inning, with the ball dropping just in front of a diving Willie Bloomquist, allowing former Cincinnati Red Jeff Keppinger to score from second base. Cueto allowed two doubles in the first. The first two-base hit went to Keppinger.

The Reds duo of Janish and Yonder Alonso converted a 3-6-3 double play to end the top half of the second inning after Angel Sanchez hit a one-out single.

Lee scored the Astros' second run (an unearned run) in the seventh, on a fielders choice (4-6), by Brett Wallace, when Reds second baseman Chris Valaika hesitated to throw home, but instead tossed the ball Janish at second base. 

Lee finished the game 3 for 5. In 14 games this season against the Reds, Lee has six RBIs. 

The first Reds hit came in the second inning off the bat of Chris Heisey, who singled to left field with one out. Heisey followed with his first steal of the season. Janish went to first base two batters later with a two-out walk. 

Bloomquist started the Reds' half of the third with a four-pitch base on balls. He advanced to second on a wild pitch by Figueroa but was left stranded after a ground out by Alonso. 

Houston had a chance to add to its slight lead in the top of the fourth, but after a one-out ground ball single to centerfield by Lee, the trio of Chris Valaika to Janish to Alonso ended the inning with a double play (4-6-3). 

Heisey reached base for the second time in the fourth with a one-out infield single to the shortstop.  

Nix, who was making his first start since Aug. 28, continued the inning with a base hit to right field, sending Heisey from first-to-third. But both runners were, again, left on the bases. 

Nix went 2 for 3 to build his resume for his shot at the postseason roster. 

"I think we have enough time where I think I'll be able to get into more games and show that I can move around. I really want to be healthy for the postseason," Nix said.  

Nix was asked if he was worried about the seeding the Reds will get once the regular season end this Sunday. 

"We're just trying to win as many games as we can," Nix said. "Right now we are trying to get homefield advantage, so hopefully when we look up at the end of the season, we'll be in good shape." 

From the second through fourth innings, the Reds left six runners stranded, including three at second and third bases combined. For the game, Cincinnati stranded nine. 

It looked as though Keppinger was going to gain his second hit of the game against his former team, one day after snapping an 0-for-9 skid, but a diving stop by Valaika, with a throw from his knees to first, erased any thoughts of that happening in the sixth. 

In the bottom of the same inning, Nix walked, with two outs, and capitalized on a wild pitch to take second base standing up. 

But that was as far as Nix would get with Janish wrapping up the inning on a hard fly out to right field. 

Jordan Smith and Sam LeCure pitched the final two innings in relief for Cincinnati. Neither pitcher allowed a base runner. 

This was the Reds' 13th time being shutout this season. Cincinnati is 16-38 when they don't hit a home run. 

The Reds host their final series of the regular season starting Friday with the Brewers visiting GABP. Cincinnati has one game left with the Astros Thursday. 

GAME NOTES: Drew Stubbs stole his 27th base of the year (pinch runner in the ninth inning) … The Reds will have occupied first place the last 50 days of the season ... Beginning May 16 and through the end of the season, the Reds will have spent 110 of the last 141 days of the season in first place or tied for first …Cincinnati has 45 come-from-behind wins (22 in final at-bat) … Tuesday's walk-off home run by Jay Bruce was the 5th time in MLB history a playoff berth was clinched with a walk-off home run … One moment that caused a bit of concern to the Reds came after a ball hit by Chris Johnson bounced off the calf of Cueto, causing Baker and the training staff to check him out … Houston's Brandon Lyon recorded his 20th save of the season … Houston's Wilton Lopez has stranded 31 of his 32 inherited runners this season … The Astros are 75-83 overall.