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Cincinnati Reds

Rallying Reds strike again

By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted May 18, 2010 5:28 PM ET

Homer Bailey never doubted that if he did his part, his teammates would follow.

Bailey allowed three hits and two runs in the first inning of Tuesday's game against Milwaukee, and even though he never had a lead, he didn't allow another hit until the seventh inning and kept his team in the game.

"It wasn't a matter of 'are we going to come back' it was when it was going to happen," said Bailey, who walked two and struck out four to go with four hits in seven innings against the Brewers. "We have that much confidence right now. We have a lot of confidence in our lineup and in our pitching. The way we're playing right now, the way we're playing as a team is remarkable. We expect every game we play, we're going to win."

And they did. For the 10th time in 23 victories, the Reds won in their last at-bat, scoring three against Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 victory and a two-game sweep of the Brewers.

"The group of guys we have, we always pick each other up, whether you do good or bad," said second baseman Brandon Phillips.

And it was a group effort once again on Tuesday, leading the Reds to their fourth consecutive win, ninth win in 10 games, 11th in the last 15 and 16th in the last 21. The team not only continues its run atop the National League Central standings, but at 23-16 is seven games above .500 for the first time since July 28, 2006.

After a mixture of three Reds relievers - Mike Lincoln, Daniel Ray Herrera and Carlos Fisher - allowed two Brewers runs in the top of the eighth, but once again, the Reds came back, in no small part to Joey Votto.

The Reds recently started a game of 20 consecutive days without a day off, so he wanted to rest some of his players on a day game following a night game. He wondered if Votto, who had four hits in his last 19 at-bats, wanted a day off. "Skip, I'm fine," Baker recalls Votto telling him.

That's all it took, Scott Rolen and Drew Stubbs got the days off, with Paul Janish playing third and Chris Heisey in center.

Votto started everything off by hitting a ball into the boat in center field, 460 feet away in the eighth inning to make it a two-run game.

Janish led off the ninth with a single before Rolen's day off came to an end. Hoffman has the most saves in big league history, but he'd blown four saves coming into Tuesday and converted only five. In 12 career at-bats against Hoffman, Rolen had five hits and three home runs.

"I knew Scott was on deck and he's had some success against Trevor and maybe if I could get on, he'd hit a homer," Janish said.

On a 1-2 count, Rolen did just that, tying the game. That was followed by a double by Heisey - whose triple helped score the go-ahead run on Monday - and then after Hoffman walked Brandon Phillips, who had been attempting to lay down a sacrifice bunt, Votto came up again.

This time Votto didn't hit it over the fence, though the laser off Hoffman's first pitch seemed like it could have pierced the wall in right field and scored Heisey easily to give the Reds the win.

"I want to play every single day, I don't want to be out of the lineup ever," said Votto. "I'm ready to play every single day, I can speak for everyone in this locker room, we want to play every day. That's what we get paid to do and that's what most of us love to do."

It's hard to argue what they're doing right now, as the team leaves Great American Ball Park to play two games in Atlanta and then back to the Buckeye state to face Cleveland for three games.

"Every day we expect to win," Bailey said. "And here lately we've been doing that."

Categories: Cincinnati Reds, Featured Stories

Tags: Dusty Baker, Homer Bailey, Joey Votto, Scott Rolen, Trevor Hoffman