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Cincinnati Reds

Little things lead to Reds win

By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted September 16, 2009 10:39 PM ET

Fans stood and cheered as Joey Votto scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch. It was the obvious thing to cheer. In the end, it led a 6-5 Reds victory over the Houston Astros and a sweep of the series.

But it was on the back end of the play where the true beauty of the game took place. Brandon Phillips, whose single to right allowed Votto to advance from first to third, was just as aware of where the ball was as Votto. As Votto scored on Jeff Fulchino's wild pitch, Phillips went full speed from first around second and hesitated just enough to watch catcher Chris Coste's reaction.

As the ball rolled toward the Astros' dugout and rested right on the lip, Phillips noticed Coste's back turned to the play and went into third without a throw.

"It's just instinct and playing the game," Phillips said. "I'm always trying to advance to the next bag. I try to use my speed to get an extra bag and try to hustle as much as possible. I saw the ball get away and kept on going until I thought I couldn't go anymore."

Manager Dusty Baker said he tells Phillips that's "Jackie Robinson stuff."

"He just smiles when I tell him that," Baker said.

To Phillips, it's the ultimate compliment.

"All you have to do is play the game, the more games you play the more you learn," Phillips said. "When I saw that, maybe the younger cats see me do that and maybe they'll be aware the next time they're on base and they'll try that the next time they're on base."

In the end, Phillips didn't score. Scott Rolen struck out, Juan Francisco walked and Wladimir Balentien and Kevin Barker both struck out to leave him there. It didn't end up meaning anything in this game - Votto's run held up and Francisco Cordero moved into a tie for the league lead in saves with his 37th, matching San Diego's Heath Bell and St. Louis' Ryan Franklin.

"That's why they brought me here and that's why they pay me what they pay me," Cordero said of his save, joining along with his fellow bullpen-mates Pedro Viola, Jared Burton and Nick Masset to pick up starter Justin Lehr, who allowed five solo home runs.

"I've heard that, solo home runs don't beat you," Lehr said. "But I don't think they're talking about five of them."

Lehr did do his part in helping with he score, collecting his first RBI on a squeeze play in the fourth inning. It was one of the several "little things" that added up to enough runs to beat the homers from the Astros, including Joey Votto going from first-to-third on Phillips' single in the seventh, setting up the winning run.

"It says a lot, it says we're not going to quit," said outfielder Jonny Gomes, who hit his 20th home run of the season, a solo shot (naturally - all seven homers in the game were with no men on base). "I've played for the Rays, I've gone worst-to-first, I've lost 100 games in a season. For these guys to keep grinding it out, today was great baseball for guys that are going to be here next year. Joey Votto going from first-to-thrid with the best of them, we've got guys getting them over. We got a squeeze down tonight, a sac fly, we turned two. We played some good baseball with some core guys that are going to be here.

"That's stuff you see in a playoff race, stuff you see in a first-place team. For us to show that and keep that up, shows there's a bright future for this team."

Categories: Cincinnati Reds, Featured Stories, News

Tags: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds, Dusty Baker, Justin Lehr