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Sunday, Apr. 16 4:10pm ET
Sheffield barely misses grand slam in LA loss | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gary Sheffield's home run Sunday wasn't as timely as it could have been. Both times he came up with the bases loaded, Cincinnati's Steve Parris and Scott Williamson took care of him. Parris retired the Los Angeles Dodgers' RBI leader on a fly ball to end the third inning and Williamson struck him out to end the seventh, as the Reds hung on for a 5-3 victory. "Those are situations we don't want to be in -- Sheffield up with the bases loaded," Cincinnati catcher Ed Taubensee said. "You can't be consistent in the way you pitch to him. You have to change it up all the time. "Yesterday we threw him all breaking balls, and today we mixed it up with some fastballs in. Anything up in the strike zone he's swinging at, and he doesn't miss many pitches. But we were fortunate to get him to chase some pitches that were out of the strike zone." After the Dodgers loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit against Parris (1-2), Sheffield turned on a high inside pitch in the third and watched his bid for his seventh career grand slam go about 10 feet foul. "I took off just enough on that curveball that he pulled it," said Parris, who retired Sheffield two pitches later with a fastball. "I knew it was foul when he hit it, but I didn't know how far it was going to go. He crushed it, but he just didn't quite wait long enough." Sheffield, who has hit safely in all 12 games this season, led off the sixth with his fifth homer to extend his hitting streak to 18 games -- including the his final six games of last year. But his next time up he struck out for only the fourth time in 42 at-bats this season. Williamson -- last season's NL rookie of the year -- got Sheffield to bite on a 3-2 slider away. Williamson has not allowed a run over seven innings in his last six appearances. "That was definitely a tough pitch Williamson threw him on 3-2 with the bases loaded," Dodgers right fielder Shawn Green said. Taubensee and Michael Tucker homered and Parris bounced back from two sub-par efforts with six strong innings, allowing a run and three hits. In his previous outings, the right-hander surrendered a combined 10 earned runs over nine innings against Chicago and Colorado. "I honestly don't think I pitched any better than I did in the first two, but I had some luck," Parris said. "I threw the ball better with guys on base and in scoring position and was able to get some groundouts. The defense played fantastic for me today." Green doubled twice for the other hits off Parris, then homered against Manny Aybar leading off the eighth inning. Moments later Chad Kreuter drew his fourth consecutive walk and scored on Jose Vizcaino's triple, narrowing the gap to 5-3. Danny Graves got the last four outs for his second save. Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead in the second against Chan Ho Park (2-1) when D.T. Cromer doubled and scored on an error by third baseman Adrian Beltre. The Reds increased it to 3-0 in the fourth when Cromer was hit by a pitch and Tucker homered. Taubensee led off the eighth against Jeff Williams with his second homer of the season and second in two days. Aaron Boone doubled home a run later in the inning against Matt Herges. Park was charged with three runs, two earned, and four hits in seven innings. It was only the second loss for the right-hander in his last nine regular-season decisions. Game notesSheffield has hit six grand slams in his career... Alex Ochoa played for the first time since straining his right hamstring last Monday at Colorado. He singled as a pinch-hitter for Parris and was immediately replaced on the bases by pitcher Pete Harnisch. ... ... The Reds have made an error in nine straight games. It is the first time Cincinnati has committed an error in more than eight consecutive games since an 11-game stretch in 1974. ... Dante Bichette, who struck out with runners at second and third as a pinch-hitter for Williamson, is 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Last season with Colorado, he hit .343 with 91 RBI in those situations. ... Dodgers reliever Antonio Osuna, who underwent elbow surgery last September, is scheduled to pitch for San Bernardino in a rehab outing on Monday before making his next one with Triple-A Albuquerque. Manager Davey Johnson said he expects the right-hander to be activated by May 1. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Cincinnati Clubhouse Los Angeles Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 5 Oakland 4
Colorado 14
Cincinnati 5
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