Double Grand Style For Reds

The rest of the major leagues had already reached triple digits in grand slams when the Cincinnati Reds finally got their first.

An inning later, they got another.

Aaron Boone and Eddie Taubensee hit their first career grand slams as the Cincinnati Reds did all of their damage with the bases loaded and beat the Montreal Expos 9-3 Saturday night.

The 106th grand slam in the majors this season finally added the Reds to the list.

"It was nice to see anyone hit one," manager Jack McKeon said.

Taubensee hit another in the seventh off Bobby Ayala, the third time in franchise history that the Reds had two grand slams in a game.

"Two slams in back-to-back innings," manager Felipe Alou said, summing up the Expos' plight. "That was a good game for a while."

Juan Guzman (3-1) allowed eight hits in his second complete game of the season and also singled with the bases loaded, keeping the Reds a game behind Houston in the NL Central.

The Reds also extended their month-long streak of following a loss with a win. Cincinnati has not lost consecutive games since July 22-23, going 19-8 over that span.

Guzman, obtained from Baltimore for two minor leaguers July 31, made his fourth stingy start since coming over from Baltimore for two minor leaguers on July 31. The right-hander has allowed a total of eight runin his four Cincinnati starts for a 2.32 ERA.

Vladimir Guerrero singled off Guzman in his first at-bat, extending his hitting streak to 26 games. It's the second-longest streak in the National League this season, trailing Luis Gonzalez's 30-game streak.

Brad Fullmer extended his streak to a career-high 15 games with an RBI double in the fourth and Rondell White led off the fifth with his 17th homer for a 2-1 Montreal lead.

The Reds put together both of their rallies off Thurman with grounders that never left the infield.

Taubensee's leadoff single and infield singles by Boone and Pokey Reese loaded the bases in the second for Guzman, who singled softly to right to drive in a run. Guzman is 3-for-17 in his career with three RBIs.

"For me, it's weird. Hitting is something I've never done before," said Guzman, who has spent most of his career in the American League. "I'm getting used to it. Basically, I'm not a great hitter. I just try to make contact."

Sean Casey led off the sixth with a single and the Reds got a huge break when third baseman Shane Andrews lost Barry Larkin's high-hop grounder in the lights, letting it get past him for a double. Taubensee walked on four pitches to load the bases and Boone hit a 3-1 pitch over the wall in center for his eighth homer of the season.

Thurman decided to pitch around Taubensee to get to Boone, who had singled in his first two at-bats. Thurman threw Boone three balls and then a strike before giving up the homer.

"I don't know what happened. I got out of rhythm with Taubensee," Thurman said. "I didn't want to throw Taubensee a strike. I threw him four straight balls and fell out of my groove."

"When I throw ball one, ball two and ball three (to Boone), it puts me in a bad situation and everybody knows it."

Boone got his first curtain call at Cinergy Field for the slam. He also ended his teammates' teasing.

"I've been hitting the ball to the warning track all week and guys have been getting on me, saying I can't hit the ball out to center field," Boone said. "So it was great to finally get one."

Taubensee hit his 14th homer to right-center for a 9-2 lead an inning later and bumped into Barry Larkin the runner on first as he watched the ball go out.

"It almost didn't happen," Taubensee said. "I almost passed Barry. Barry kind of slowed up and I actually bumped him in the back. (Umpire) Frank Pulli said, 'Don't let him pass you up."'

McKeon swapped two of his slumping hitters in the batting order, dropping Casey to fourth and moving Greg Vaughn to third. Casey hadn't batted cleanup since May 12.

The move had little effect Casey was 1-for-3 with a walk and Vaughn 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. But the bottom of the Reds' order did the damage, as the last four spots in the order drove in all nine runs.

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