Fourth inning dooms Reds in loss
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com
09/13/09 6:36 PM ET
CHICAGO — Homer Bailey had the kind of afternoon that won’t show up in the bottom line for the Reds.
It was a 5-2 loss to the Cubs that will be tagged to Bailey, but manager Dusty Baker saw much more, and another chance to teach the young pitcher.
“To me, that’s the best he’s thrown,” Baker said.
Bailey (5-5) pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed three earned runs and nine hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He threw 115 pitches with 81 going for strikes. Like in his recent starts, the right-hander’s speed was routinely reaching the mid-to-upper 90s, topping out at 98 mph.
“He was throwing the ball as well as I’ve seen him,” Baker said. “He had more velocity. It seems like he’s gaining velocity.”
Bailey’s day came down to a three-run Cubs’ fourth inning when the game was still scoreless. Back-to-back singles from Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez started the rally. Bailey walked Micah Hoffpauir to load the bases. With one out, Koyie Hill lined an RBI single to right field before Andres Blanco blooped a two-run single to right field for a 3-0 Cubs lead.
During the at-bats to Lee, Hill and Blanco, Bailey gave up the hits on 0-2 counts.
“It was kind of disheartening, the fact in the fourth inning that he gave up three 0-2 hits, which is again part of the learning process on how to put them away when you have them eating out of your hand,” Baker said. “The guys that really hit him well are the guys that can really hit — D. Lee and Aramis Ramirez. They’re two of the best of around. He’ll learn. He’s learning rather quickly. He’s going to be what everybody projected him to be as long as he learns from his mistakes.”
“On the one that scored two runs, I made my pitch,” Bailey said of the Blanco at-bat. “It’s on his hands, and he bloops it over. You have to tip your hat, what can you do? The other one was a split-fingered pitch I wanted to bury, and I just didn’t bury it. That’s definitely my fault.”
It was the first time in his last five starts that Bailey took a loss. In the current span, he has a 2.23 ERA. He has a 5.56 ERA overall in 16 starts.
“I felt good out there,” Bailey said. “A couple of pitches cost me the game. I got behind in some counts, maybe one too many full counts. You win some, you lose some I guess.”
For the Reds, Sunday marked the final day of a lengthy and time-zone crossing 10-day road trip through Atlanta, Denver and Chicago. Baker has long been a big stickler for “getaway day” victories.
“This is one of the toughest days — the last day,” Baker said before Sunday’s game. “You have to fool yourself. Once you starting thinking about going home, then you get into extra innings. You have to play all the way through, even harder the last day than any other day on the road.”
Unfortunately for Baker, the Reds left town rather quietly. Their two runs didn’t come until there were two outs in the ninth, on Drew Stubbs’ two-run single sharply hit up the middle.
Despite throwing 119 pitches, Cubs starter Ted Lilly held the Reds at bay for six scoreless innings while allowing six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Overall, Cincinnati was 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
Not only did that mean a 4-6 record to conclude the trip, but it also officially marked the Reds’ elimination from the National League Central race. Catching the first-place Cardinals became mathematically impossible.
“We were going to get eliminated one day out of these next three weeks,” Baker said after the game. “I hate to look at the stat sheet on the paper and see the ‘X’ by our name. In the position we’re in, you knew it would happen sooner or later.”
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Cincinnati AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Stubbs, CF 5 0 2 2 0 0 0 .252
Janish, SS 5 0 2 0 0 1 2 .211
Votto, 1B 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 .299
Phillips, B, 2B 4 0 1 0 0 2 3 .276
Rolen, 3B 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .308
Gomes, LF 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .271
McDonald, Da, RF 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 .235
Hanigan, C 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 .268
Burton, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Fisher, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-Rosales, A, PH 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .203
Bailey, H, P 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 .069
Viola, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Miller, C, C 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .171
Totals 36 2 10 2 2 10 15
a-Doubled for Fisher in the 9th.
BATTING
2B: Janish 2 (14, Lilly, Lilly), Rolen (32, Lilly), McDonald, Da 2 (5, Lilly, Grabow), Rosales, A (10, Grabow).
TB: Stubbs 2; Janish 4; Votto; Phillips, B; Rolen 2; McDonald, Da 4; Rosales, A 2.
RBI: Stubbs 2 (10).
2-out RBI: Stubbs 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rolen; Phillips, B 2; Bailey, H; Hanigan.
GIDP: Janish.
Team RISP: 2-for-11.
Team LOB: 9.
FIELDING
E: Phillips, B (9, fielding).
Chi Cubs AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Fukudome, CF 5 0 0 0 0 2 6 .262
Bradley, RF 5 0 0 0 0 3 4 .260
Lee, D, 1B 4 2 3 1 0 0 1 .302
Ramirez, A, 3B 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 .322
Hoffpauir, M, LF 3 1 1 0 1 1 2 .235
Fuld, LF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .271
Baker, Je, 2B 4 0 0 0 0 2 6 .286
Hill, K, C 3 1 1 1 1 0 1 .241
Blanco, A, SS 4 0 3 2 0 0 1 .257
Lilly, P 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 .094
a-Fontenot, PH 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .230
Caridad, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Gregg, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-Scales, PH 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 .241
Grabow, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 35 5 11 5 3 10 25
a-Doubled for Lilly in the 6th. b-Grounded into a forceout for Gregg in the 8th.
BATTING
2B: Fontenot (20, Bailey, H).
HR: Lee, D (32, 7th inning off Burton, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Lee, D 6; Ramirez, A 2; Hoffpauir, M; Hill, K; Blanco, A 3; Fontenot 2.
RBI: Hill, K (24), Blanco, A 2 (11), Lee, D (97), Scales (11).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Fukudome 2; Baker, Je; Bradley 2.
Team RISP: 2-for-10.
Team LOB: 9.
BASERUNNING
CS: Fukudome (10, 2nd base by Bailey, H/Hanigan).
FIELDING
DP: (Ramirez, A-Baker, Je-Lee, D).
Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Bailey, H (L, 5-5) 5.1 9 3 3 2 6 0 5.56
Viola 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.70
Burton 1.1 1 1 1 0 3 1 5.19
Fisher 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 0 4.28
Chi Cubs IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Lilly (W, 12-8) 6.0 6 0 0 2 7 0 3.05
Caridad (H, 2) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.61
Gregg 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.77
Grabow 1.0 3 2 2 0 1 0 3.14
IBB: Hanigan (by Lilly).
Pitches-strikes: Bailey, H 115-81, Viola 3-2, Burton 19-12, Fisher 20-14, Lilly 119-78, Caridad 15-10, Gregg 13-8, Grabow 15-11.
Groundouts-flyouts: Bailey, H 6-3, Viola 0-1, Burton 0-1, Fisher 2-0, Lilly 2-9, Caridad 2-1, Gregg 1-0, Grabow 1-1.
Batters faced: Bailey, H 27, Viola 1, Burton 5, Fisher 5, Lilly 26, Caridad 3, Gregg 3, Grabow 6.
Inherited runners-scored: Viola 2-0, Burton 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Paul Nauert. 1B: Joe West. 2B: Ed Rapuano. 3B: Paul Schrieber.
Weather: 72 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 6 mph, In from RF.
T: 3:05.
Att: 39,805.
September 13, 2009