Reds Keep Pace With Win

With just about everyone except the batboy was hitting homers for the Cincinnati Reds in the past week, Barry Larkin was feeling left out.

He belatedly joined the Reds' power surge Friday night and paid for the tardy arrival with another round of teasing. Larkin hit his first homer since June 21 and Eddie Taubensee added a two-run shot for a 4-2 victory over the Florida Marlins.

"I'm glad he's on the board for the second half," Taubensee said, needling the shortstop one more time. "The guys have been ribbing him. He's not been having a good time with it."

"The way everybody's been hitting home runs lately, they've become a big deal, but I'm not a home run hitter," said Larkin, who has 10 homers for the season. "I'm a line-drive hitter. Tonight was just a high line drive."

Denny Neagle (6-5) gave up a pair of runs in seven innings and Danny Graves pitched out of a bases-loaded threat in the eighth before finishing for his 22nd save in 29 chances.

The Reds kept pressure on first-place Houston in the NL Central and ran their home winning streak against the Marlins to seven games. They went 9-0 overall last season against Florida and haven't lost to the Marlins at home since July 23, 1997.

The Reds have won seven of their last eight games by swinging from the heels and connecting. They've hit 25 homers during the eight-game span, racking up one record after another. The spurt started last Saturday in Philadelphia, where eight Reds hit a total of nine homers.

Larkin was left out of that group. He also failed to join in as the Reds hit 14 homers over a two-game span and 17 in a four-game span on their road trip.
But Larkin ended a 72-game homerless streak that was the longest of his career when he came to bat in the first inning. He worked knuckleball pitcher Dennis Springer (5-14) to a 3-1 count, then pulled a slider.

When Larkin touched home and headed for the dugout, he found his teammates some of whom had circled the bases repeatedly in the past week sitting there looking disinterested. After a moment, they ended the silent treatment, popped up and congratulated him then teased him some more.

"Everybody's been talking about it, how they're going to buy me my favorite drink," Larkin said. "(Coach Ken) Griffey asked me if I was celebrating with my tutti-frutti. I've heard it all. Guys were yelling, 'Get the bat. Get the ball."'

Dmitri Young led off the fifth with his second single of the game and Taubensee followed with his 18th homer off a knuckleball for a 3-0 lead.

"They've got a lot of guys that can get them into the game and get them ahead in the game," Springer said.

An error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez helped the Reds load the bases in the sixth, and Springer walkEddie Taubensee on a full-count knuckleball to force in a run.

The Marlins had a lot of hard, off-balance swings against Neagle's soft, off-speed pitches. The left-hander pitched out of a two-on, two-out threat in the first inning and didn't allow another hit until the sixth, when Alex Gonzalez singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Kevin Millar's two-out double.

"I was getting all four pitches over for strikes," Neagle said. "When you're getting all four over, you're going to get them off-balance and put thoughts in their heads. That's when you're going to get them thinking and you're going to see some ugly swings."

Preston Wilson's 24th homer cut it to 4-2 in the seventh, but the Marlins wasted a chance after loading the bases with one out in the eighth against Scott Sullivan. Graves relieved, struck out Wilson and got Mike Lowell to hit into a forceout, preserving the lead.

"That is one terrific bullpen and they've been great all year," Marlins manager John Boles said. "They're going after it as if their lives depend on it their playoff lives."

Ater giving up a walk in the ninth, Graves ended the game by trapping Gonzalez's liner to the mound. The ball deflected off the inside of Graves' left knee, hit his right and popped up to his stomach, where he cradled it.

Graves fell to the ground and had to be helped off the field. X-rays found no fracture and the injury wasn't considered serious, although Graves has a large welt by the side of his left knee.

"At the time, it was killing me," Graves said. "But it looked worse than it was. It's a bruise. I'll be fine."

Notes