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Wednesday, Apr. 19 7:05pm ET
Reds hand Giants 8th loss in 9 games | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Benito Santiago's knuckle is still swollen, but his spirits are a whole lot better. Playing for the first time since he dislocated a knuckle 10 days ago, Santiago hit a two-run homer Wednesday night that sent the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-4 victory over the slumping San Francisco Giants. Santiago's second-inning homer put the Reds ahead to stay and added another moment of misery to the Giants' slow start. They've lost eight of nine and couldn't even get a win out of Shawn Estes (0-1), who had never lost to the Reds. Estes, disabled until last weekend by shoulder tendinitis, walked six in five innings. He also threw consecutive wild pitches to let in a run and set up another in the second inning, when the Giants let a 3-0 lead slip away. The worst pitch was his second to Santiago, who pulled it to left for his first homer despite the sore finger. "I was looking forward to it," said Santiago, who also had a single in four at-bats. "I was ready to play. I was thinking it's like football -- you've got to be ready for the big game." Santiago dislocated the middle knuckle on his left ring finger while sliding into a base. Estes helped him get back into the swing of things right away. "I really wish I could take back one pitch -- the one to Santiago," Estes said. "I wanted a fastball down and away and I left it down the middle, pretty much right where he likes it." Santiago's homer helped Rob Bell (1-1) earn his first major-league win. Bell, a right-hander promoted from Double-A, went 5 2/3 innings in his third start, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks. He struggled much more than in his first two starts but got a better result. "I think if it wasn't for the fact that this was my first major league win, I would be taking a lot less out of this game," Bell said. "I felt like I had to work on every pitch." The Reds' lineup was back to full strength with the return of first baseman Sean Casey, disabled by a broken thumb on April 1. Casey, activated before the game, got a standing ovation and walked in his first at-bat. "The standing ovation was awesome," Casey said. "I didn't expect that. It was an emotional moment. Missing Opening Day and getting that ovation was really special." Casey later hit into a double play and doubled twice. Dante Bichette's sacrifice fly made it 5-3 in the third, and Ellis Burks' pinch single off Scott Sullivan cut it to 5-4 in the sixth. Danny Graves pitched the last two innings for his third save. At 4-10, the Giants are off to their worst start since 1985, when they had an identical mark. They're 0-4 in one-run games. "It's a little thing each game," manager Dusty Baker said. "It means you're one hit away or one play away or one something away whenever you lose by one." Neither team got much out of its No. 3 hitter. Barry Bonds was 0-for-4 with a walk and a fly out to Ken Griffey Jr. on the warning track in center, leaving him in a 3-for-20 slump over the last six games. All three hits were homers. Griffey had a single in three at-bats, leaving him in a 2-for-17 slide that has dropped his average to .185. The Giants started off fast, getting a two-run double in the first from J.T. Snow and a solo homer leading off the second by Ramon Martinez. San Francisco then froze up in the clutch, stranding runners in scoring position in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. The Reds rearranged their struggling bullpen before the game, calling up left-hander Norm Charlton from Triple-A and sending left-hander Hector Mercado down. Charlton, part of the Reds' "Nasty Boys" bullpen in the early '90s, sat on the bench but didn't warm up. Game notesThe Reds were the only NL team that hadn't beaten Estes, who was 3-0 with a 2.80 ERA in five career starts against them. ... When he scored five times Tuesday night, Bonds matched the franchise record set in 1964 by Willie Mays -- his godfather. ... Casey's error handling a pickoff throw gave the Reds a streak of 11 consecutive games with an error, their longest since an 11-game streak in 1974. ... Bell's wild pitch in the fifth was the Reds' 15th in 15 games, most in the majors. ... Griffey has had extra batting practice the last two days to try to pull out of his slump. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard San Francisco Clubhouse Cincinnati Clubhouse Who was the player of the '90s?
RECAPS Chi. White Sox 5 Seattle 2
Cincinnati 5
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