| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- All the Cincinnati Reds needed to break their four-game skid was for Denny Neagle's turn in the rotation to come back around.
After watching his teammates get pummeled the last few days, Neagle allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings to snap the New York Mets' nine-game winning streak with a 12-1 victory Wednesday night.
|  | | Cincinnati's Dmitri Young tied a career high with five RBI and set the tone for a rout with his first-inning home run. |
"It was a little different night tonight," Reds manager Jack McKeon said. "We needed it really bad. It was a perfect night to break out."
Dmitri Young went 4-for-5 with a homer and five RBI, and Ed Taubensee added three hits, a home run and three RBI for Cincinnati, which ended its longest losing streak since September 1998 and the Mets' longest winning stretch since May 1998.
"It was one of those games that started on a wrong note and then got a little bit worse," Mets manager Bobby Valentine said.
The story for the Reds, who had allowed 42 runs in the last four games, was the performance by Neagle (2-0), who had no trouble pitching on a rainy, 43-degree night.
"I grew up in Maryland and went to college in Minnesota so the cold has never bothered me," he said. "I've always been able to have command in this weather and I think it gives me an advantage."
The left-hander struck out nine and walked four, not allowing a runner to reach third base until two outs in the sixth inning. Neagle, who hasn't lost since Aug. 25, won a career-high eighth straight decision. He also got Cincinnati's previous win last Thursday against San Francisco.
Neagle was staked to a 2-0 lead on Young's two-run homer before he even took the mound and was barely threatened all game.
He allowed only a pair of doubles. Benny Agbayani blooped a ball to center that bounced off Ken Griffey Jr.'s glove in the second inning, and Mike Piazza hit a scorcher to left-center in the sixth.
"That's the best I've seen him pitch all year," McKeon said. "He had good command, a sharp breaking ball and a good changeup. He kept them off balance all night."
Pokey Reese led off the game with a single. Young, a switch-hitter batting right-handed against the right-handed knuckleballer Dennis Springer (0-1), hit a 75 mph fastball into the left-field bullpen for his third homer. Rickey Henderson barely moved as the ball sailed over his head.
"That made my job a lot easier," Neagle said of the early lead. "I can afford to make a mistake pitch. It allowed me to throw strikes and be aggressive."
Young added an RBI double in the second inning when Agbayani, starting in center field for just the second time this season, turned the wrong way on a deep drive.
Young singled in the sixth and nearly got his first career cycle in the seventh inning. With runners on first and second, Young hit a drive to center that scored both runners. He tried to stretch the hit into a triple but was thrown out on a relay at third by shortstop Rey Ordonez.
"I knew what I needed, but Ordonez must have put a grand piano on my back as I rounded second," joked Young, who tied a career high for RBI.
Taubensee had an RBI single in the fifth and a two-run homer in the seventh, his third of the year.
Aaron Boone added an RBI double in the third off Springer, who allowed eight runs, 13 hits and four walks in six-plus innings.
"It wasn't ideal conditions by no means," Springer said. "But (Neagle) did it. It's tough to get a feel for it. But they just hit it where we weren't tonight. That's all."
Chris Stynes hit a two-run double and Dante Bichette had an RBI single in the ninth as the Reds had a season high in runs.
The Mets scored their only run in the eighth when Jon Nunnally tripled off Manny Aybar and scored on Derek Bell's sacrifice fly.
Game notes
Neagle is 8-0 with a 2.56 ERA in 12 starts since Aug. 30. ... Neagle is 6-2 with an 2.11 ERA in 14 games at Shea Stadium. ... Griffey, who blocked a trade to the Mets last winter, was booed once again and went 1-for-4 with a walk. ... With the Mets playing 19 games in 18 days, Kurt Abbott started at third base in place of Robin Ventura. ... Piazza has 15 extra-base hits -- 11 doubles and four homers -- in his last 15 games.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Cincinnati Clubhouse
NY Mets Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 2
Minnesota 0
Boston 14
Texas 4
Cleveland 5
Seattle 3
Chi. White Sox 11
Baltimore 6
Kansas City 7
Tampa Bay 6
Anaheim 6
Detroit 1
Toronto 4
Oakland 2
San Francisco 8
Florida 7
Atlanta 5
Los Angeles 1
Chicago Cubs 13
Houston 8
Montreal 9
Colorado 2
Arizona 10
Philadelphia 4
Pittsburgh 9
San Diego 8
Cincinnati 12
NY Mets 1
St. Louis 7
Milwaukee 0
|
