Home has been sweet for Reds

TODAY’S GAME

Mariners at Reds, 4:10 p.m., FS Ohio, 700, 1410

Homer Bailey obviously got most of the credit for his no-hitter Tuesday. Catcher Ryan Hanigan got some, as did Joey Votto for his heads-up play in the field.

Sam LeCure also credited the crowd with an assist. He and the rest of the Reds relievers were witnesses to history in the bullpen. Many fans had a much better view of Bailey’s performance than they did, but LeCure appreciated all the crowd did in willing Bailey to the no-hitter.

“I thought the crowd did a great job of responding,” LeCure said. “There are times it’s a reactive fan base a little bit. They just kind of wait for something to happen, and then they react. The fans pushed the envelope a little bit with their energy. You felt that. We love that. I don’t think they understand how big a part that can play in the change of a pitch, or an at-bat or an inning or a game.”

The Reds love playing at home, and it shows. They have won 10 of 14 series at home. They were 29-14 at home coming into a weekend series against the Mariners, tying the Braves and Pirates for most home wins.

Because of their success at home, through Thursday, when the final game of the Reds’ series against the Giants was rained out, Cincinnati was tied with the Braves for fifth-best record in baseball (49-36). Only Pittsburgh (52-32), Boston (53-34), St. Louis (50-34) and Oakland (50-36) had better records.

Cincinnati came off a 2-6 road trip to win three games at home against the Giants this week.

“That road-stand, it’s going to happen,” third baseman Todd Frazier said. “It’s how you rebound. It’s how you come back. We’ve done well. We like playing at home. That’s big for us. If we just pick it up a little bit on the road, we’ll be fine.”

The Reds didn’t know much about Seattle before this three-game series. The Mariners had never played at Great American Ball Park until Friday because the only other time they played in Cincinnati, in 2002, the games were played at Cinergy Field. The teams had played nine times all together with the Mariners winning eight.

Even though the Mariners hasn’t had a winning season since 2009, lost 101 games three seasons ago and came to Cincinnati with a 37-48 record, the Reds will take them as seriously as any team.

“You look at their bullpen. Everyone is throwing 95 to 100,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “They’ve got some good pitching. They’ve got guys who are hot. They’ve got some guys in their lineup we know can hit: Raul Ibanez, Kendrys Morales, Kyle Seager. Some of the other guys we don’t know much about.

“We’ve got to play better against the AL because we didn’t play well against Texas or Oakland. Everybody can beat anybody at any given time, especially a team that has good pitching. Their record means nothing at this point.”