CINCINNATI — This was a game the Cincinnati Reds won in spite of themselves, a game they won when they tried to give it away, a game they won mostly because, well, the Arizona Diamondbacks are pretty awful.
They’ll take it, though, this 3-2, 10-inning victory, a game a team shouldn’t win when it leaves 16 runners stranded.
They’ll take it because it gives them a small step forward, winning two of three from the D-Backs, on the eve of the St. Louis Cardinals coming to town.
It ended when Joey Votto (who else?) sliced a two-out, bases-loaded base hit under the shortstop’s glove, Votto’s fourth hit.
“To have lost the series against Arizona would not have been good because we wanted to take some momentum into this next series against the Cardinals,” said Votto. “To lose and not have scored a lot of runs would not have been a good thing for the weekend series.”
Is too much being made of the Cardinals series not even halfway through the season? Votto thinks not.
“Playing a team slightly ahead of us in our division and considering how up-and-down we’ve been so far the last month and a half makes this series huge,” Votto added. “You can’t say enough about this series at this point of the season, coming up to the All-Star break. We want to let everybody in our division know that we’re for real.”
The Reds were frustrated for eight innings by left-hander Doug Davis. After they scored a run in the fourth, they left the bases loaded with no outs in that inning and they left the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth.
They tied it in the ninth, 2-2 — Votto was in the middle of it with a hit — on a fielder’s choice RBI by Drew Sutton in his first major-league at-bat.
Then Jay Bruce saved the day in the top of the 10th when Arizona had the bases loaded with one out. Justin Upton flied to medium right-center. Alex Romero tagged at third and Bruce threw a one-hop rope to the plate to obliterate Romero, Bruce’s 10th assist this season.
Asked if it was wise for Romero to run on Bruce, Reds manager Dusty Baker said, “They had no choice. Sometimes you even have to try to run on Roberto Clemente.”
Bruce holds no pretense of being close to Clemente and said of the throw, “It was bang-bang, safe or out. It worked out.”
Then the Reds filled the bases in the 10th with no outs. Laynce Nix struck out, Jerry Hairston Jr. flied to shallow right and it looked as if it would be another frustrating inning — until Votto jumped on the first pitch for the game-ender.
“Man, they’re going to kill the ol’ skipper, leaving runners on base like that,” said Baker. “That would have been a back-breaker not to score in the 10th, but we kept plugging and getting hits (14). Pressure busts the pipes and we kept the pressure on all day long.
“That was the best comeback, the most exciting, most thrilling and for one thing, the most up-and-down emotional game we played all year.”
It was another can-you-believe-it day for Aaron Harang, who pitched seven innings and gave up two runs and seven hits, but left with a 2-1 deficit.
If you believe Harang is Hard-Luck Harry, how about Davis? He gave up one run and seven hits over seven innings and turned that 2-1 lead over to the bullpen, only to see the lead evaporate. In 15 of his 16 starts, Davis has given up three runs or fewer.
His record? 3-8. His bullpen is baseball’s worst.
This was a game full of stuff.
• With the score 1-1, Arizona’s Mark Reynolds drove one to right field in the sixth inning. Chris Dickerson, a former basketball player, leaped high against the wall and nearly snagged it. It nestled into the seats for Reynolds’ 22nd homer.
• With the Reds down 2-1 in the ninth, Hairston singled. Votto then drove one deep to left, but not deep enough. Romero reached up to snag it near the wall. But the ball hit his glove and bounced out, ricocheting off his shoulder.
Hairston could only make third and Votto had a single, but Hairston scored the tying run on Sutton’s fielder’s choice up the middle.
• Closer Coco Cordero came on in the 10th and the Diamondbacks filled the bases with one out. Baker went to the mound and said, “You’ve been in this situation many times and got out of it. Get out of it now.”
That’s when Justin Upton flied to right and Bruce made the catch and ended the inning by throwing Romero out at home.
“One of the best feelings to do something like that, to help win a game, to help us come back,” said Bruce, who did not start the game but came on in a double switch in the eighth.
“Guess I put him into the game at the right time, but I wasn’t planning it that way,” said Baker.
Added Bruce, “Then for Votto to come up big, again, like he always does. Any time you have the other team on the ropes as much as we had them today and we can’t get guys in, it’s frustrating. All the frustration goes away when you win.”
Now it is St. Louis.
“We have momentum and we’ll play ‘em tough,” said Bruce.
Baker says he needs recovery time, but there is no time.
“After a day like this I’m tired and spent,” said Baker. “I told my guys the other day, ‘I’m worn out and exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally — every kind of way.’ ”
A game like this one does that to a guy.
