ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Francisco Giants pitcher Jerome Williams gave up three runs in the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds yesterday.
Williams is solid
in Giants’ loss to RedsThe Waipahu alum leaves
with his team down 3-0
but ends up with a no-decision
CINCINNATI » No matter how bad things get in the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse, they seem to turn out just fine on the field.
Barry Larkin homered for the first time since April -- off Waipahu alumnus Jerome Williams -- and Juan Castro hit a tiebreaking shot in the eighth inning last night as the Reds kept rolling with a 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
The Reds are 4-1 during a gut-wrenching week, with all four wins coming in their final at-bat. They fired their manager and general manager and traded away four key players for prospects and cash.
Yesterday, one day after the deadline for non-waiver trades, the Reds seemed to relax a little.
"Obviously, the last few days have been busy," interim manager Dave Miley said. "Today was more normal than usual."
Williams -- coming off a 2-1 loss to San Diego in which he gave up his first major league home run -- pitched six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He struck out a career-high nine, while walking none, though he did hit a batter.
Williams allowed his second home run of the season, in the fourth to Larkin -- the shortstop's fourth in 166 at-bats.
And giving up the homer got to Williams.
"Sometimes that happens," said Williams. "As a pitcher, you can't let that bother you. I kind of let it bother me a little bit."
He helped the Reds load the bases by hitting Jason LaRue with a pitch, and Wily Mo Pena singled just past diving third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo for a run. Santiago dropped Alfonzo's throw home on a grounder by Ruben Mateo, an error that put the Reds up 3-0.
The Giants have the NL's best defense, but committed two errors -- matching their season high.
"I think we looked real tired out there tonight," manager Felipe Alou said. "I hate to say that when their guy's throwing the ball well. We had a lot of shots. We had some big people come up with men on. Our guys got jammed tonight with sinkers."
The score remained 3-0 until Williams left the game for pinch hitter Pedro Feliz in the seventh, with Williams standing to suffer his second straight loss.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cincinnati's Barry Larkin was congratulated by third base coach Ray Knight yesterday after Larkin hit a solo home run off San Francisco's Jerome Williams, a Waipahu alumnus.
But Feliz hit a two-run homer and Benito Santiago took Williams off the hook with a game-tying RBI single in the eighth.
However, the Reds struck back minutes later when Castro hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, off Felix Rodriguez (6-1) with two outs.
Despite the recent upheaval, the Reds had their 10th sellout at their new ballpark, driven by their latest bobblehead promotion -- this one of their mascot. The crowd of 39,291 reveled as the Reds won the only way they know how.
The win was the Reds' 26th in their final at-bat, the most in the majors. They have 50 wins overall.
A group of fans in center had tickets compliments of third baseman Aaron Boone, traded Thursday to the New York Yankees. A young fan in the group held a picture of Boone in a Yankees uniform.
When third baseman Russell Branyan ran into the wall while trying to catch a foul in the first inning and leaned over in pain, one fan yelled, "Put Boone in!"
Branyan later left the game with a sprained right ankle.
Chief operating officer John Allen went on the team's local radio affiliate yesterday, trying to soothe fans incensed at how the Reds have handled their first season in a publicly financed ballpark.
One brightly colored sign behind third base read, "The tickets broke our wallets and the trades broke our hearts."
Reds 5, Giants 3
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Durham 2b 4 0 1 0 1 0 .281 Aurilia ss 4 0 2 0 0 0 .271 Grissom cf 4 1 2 0 0 1 .312 Bonds lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .326 Galarraga 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .315 BSantiago c 4 0 1 1 0 1 .280 Alfonzo 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .244 FRodriguez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 JoCruz rf 3 1 1 0 1 1 .250 JeWilliams p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .111 a-Feliz ph 1 1 1 2 0 0 .234 Nathan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Christiansen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- NPerez 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .271 Totals 34 3 10 3 2 5 Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg. DJimenez 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .322 Larkin ss 4 1 1 1 0 2 .267 Casey 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .297 Dunn lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .221 LaRue c 2 2 1 0 1 1 .243 Branyan 3b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .239 JCastro 3b 3 1 2 2 0 1 .254 WPena cf 4 0 2 1 0 1 .140 RMateo rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .234 PWilson p 2 0 1 0 0 1 .103 b-Freel ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .262 Reith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Mercker p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Reitsma p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 Totals 32 5 8 4 1 10 a-homered for Williams in the 7th. b-grounded out for Wilson in the 7th.
San Francisco 000 000 210 -- 3 10 2 Cincinnati 000 300 02x -- 5 8 1
E--BSantiago (4), FRodriguez (1), RMateo (2). LOB--San Francisco 7, Cincinnati 5. HR--JCastro (8), off FRodriguez; Feliz (12), off PWilson; Larkin (2), off JeWilliams. RBIs--BSantiago (42), Feliz 2 (36), Larkin (17), JCastro 2 (22), WPena (3). CS--LaRue (3). S--JeWilliams. GIDP--Galarraga.
Runners left in scoring position--San Francisco 3 (Durham, Galarraga, Alfonzo); Cincinnati 2 (DJimenez 2).
DP--Cincinnati 2 (Branyan and Casey), (Larkin, DJimenez and Casey).
Mercker pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA JeWilliams 6 7 3 2 0 9 93 2.82 Nathan 1 0 0 0 0 1 15 3.36 Christiansen 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 5 4.24 FRodriguez L, 6-1 1/3 1 2 2 1 0 14 3.42 Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA PWilson 7 7 2 2 2 4 90 5.22 Reith H, 4 1/3 1 1 1 0 0 9 4.05 Mercker 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 2.67 Reitsma W, 9-3 BS, 4 1 2/3 1 0 0 0 1 25 4.27
Inherited runners-scored--Mercker 1-0, Reitsma 2-1.
HBP--by JeWilliams (LaRue).
Umpires--Home, Greg Gibson; First, Jerry Layne; Second, Dana DeMuth; Third, Marvin Hudson.
T--2:39. A--39,291 (42,263).
