Votto, Rolen homer to help Reds beat Pirates
CINCINNATI (AP) - Johnny Cueto had one last shot at finishing
.500. Joey Votto and Scott Rolen got him there.
Votto homered and drove in three runs and Rolen homered as the
Cincinnati Reds took advantage of Zach Duke's control problems for
an 8-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.
Cueto (11-11) rebounded from a rough first inning to get the win
in his last start of the season. He allowed five hits and four runs
with four walks and six strikeouts in six innings.
"It was very important for me to finish at .500, but more
important was the team to win the game," Cueto said through coach
and interpreter Juan Lopez. "It was very important for me to
finish strong. I had a dead arm at one time, and I'm happy I
finished strong, and I'll relax for a month and then start working
out."
Manager Dusty Baker considered at least a .500 finish key for
Cueto, who went 9-14 last season.
"I think it's a psychological boost as much as anything,"
Baker said. ""I gave him a goal this year of 15, and he was on
pace for that before he ran out of gas right at the All-Star break.
I give him the same goal for next year, and I don't see why he
can't make it.
Duke (11-16) walked a season-high five, one short of his career
high, while losing for the fifth time with just one win in his last
seven starts. He gave up six hits and five runs with two strikeouts
in five innings in what manager John Russell considered to be an
uncharacteristic outing.
"He wasn't missing by too much, and when he was missing, he was
missing down in the zone, which is the mark of a good pitcher,"
Russell said. "He wasn't sharp."
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Andrew
McCutchen drew a leadoff walk and scored on Andy LaRoche's double
into the left-field corner.
The Reds tied it in the second on Rolen's leadoff walk and
Darnell McDonald's one-out double to left field. Duke walked three
batters in the second to give him four in the first two innings, as
many as he had in five September starts.
"Obviously, my fastball command wasn't very good," Duke said.
"That led to the leadoff walk. I tried to limit the damage after
that, but I worked behind in the count too much."
Rolen snapped the tie on Duke's first pitch with two outs in the
third inning, hitting it 401 feet into the left-center field seats
for his first home run in 51 at-bats since Sept. 9 at Colorado, and
his third since being traded to the Reds by Toronto on July 31.
The Reds added to the lead in a three-run fifth. McDonald scored
from third on a passed ball charged to catcher Jason Jaramillo, and
Votto added a two-run double.
The Pirates' Delwyn Young hit a 388-foot shot into the
right-field seats for his seventh homer in the sixth.
Cincinnati took a 7-4 lead in the sixth. Willy Taveras,
pinch-running after Ramon Hernandez led off with a double, scored
on Juan Francisco's pinch-hit double. Drew Stubbs sacrificed, and
Francisco scored on Paul Janish' suicide squeeze.
Votto hit his 25th homer of the season - an opposite-field
380-foot solo shot into the left-field seats - in the eighth.
NOTES: Duke finished 1-4 in five starts against Cincinnati this
season ... Reds 2B Brandon Phillips snapped a 0-for-16 slump with
an eighth-inning single to center field. ... Andrew Claggett
pitched the eighth, becoming the 49th different player and 26th
pitcher to play for Pittsburgh this season, tying franchise records
for players and pitchers used in a season. The Pirates used 49
players in 1987 and 2001 and 26 pitchers last season. ... The
Pirates set a franchise record with their 100th game of the season
without an error.