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Reds fall back into last place
Team's back luck in Dodger Stadium continues with second straight loss
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
LOS ANGELES — It is bad enough that the Cincinnati Reds lost their eighth straight game in Dodger Stadium to a pitcher with a 3-5 record and a 4.34 earned run average, but it makes it even worse that they lost in front of a supposedly hip Hollywood crowd that still does The Wave.
Chad Billingsley pitched seven shutout innings, held the Reds to four singles and struck out seven as the Los Angeles Dodgers stuck it to the Reds, 4-1.
Extras
With the second straight defeat on this trip, Adam Dunn's streak of home runs in five straight games and RBIs in eight straight games came to a quiet end.
And the Reds nose-dived back in to last place in the National League Central.
Matt Belisle was in decent form this night, but was victimized by an error on a dropped throw by catcher David Ross that helped the Dodgers to a pair of second-inning runs that did him in.
And be deserved much better.
"That's the best I've ever seen him throw," said Ross. "He had command of the strike zone. He attacked it. All around the best I've ever seen him pitch and maybe the best performance I've caught all year."
Belisle pitched a 1-2-3 first, but got himself into trouble in the second by giving up singles to Jeff Kent and James Loney, putting runners on first and third.
Matt Kemp hit one toward third on which Edwin Encarnacion perpetrated an amazing short-hop stop and pegged perfectly to catcher Ross.
Ross, though, muffed the throw and a run scored. Then the Dodgers made it 2-0 on a hit by pitcher Billingsley.
"If I catch that ball it might have been a different outcome, a closer game," said Ross. "I didn't get down with it."
Pitching coach Dick Pole met Belisle eye-to-eye before this start and issued a state of the rotation message.
"The most simple way to put it is he looked me square in the face and said, 'You need to step it up.' And I mean square in the face," said Belisle. "He knows I give it every thing I've got on the mound and do all my work and I care as much as anybody on this team. But there is just an ingredient missing.
"I can be blunt — I need to step it up, I need to get it done," said Belisle. "I have to pitch every time like it's my last time out. I guess Dick's frustration parallels mine, so he looked at me and said, 'We all believe in you, let's go.'"
Ken Griffey Jr. hadn't hit a home run in 85 at-bats when he stepped in to face Billingsley in the fourth and drove one to center. LA's Matt Kemp leaped high against the Bank of America sign and snagged it at the top of the wall.
Two weeks ago, Cubs center fielder Felix Pie went above the wall in Great American Ball Park to steal a Griffey home run.
Belisle retired 13 straight after giving up two runs, then gave up back-to-back singles with two outs in the sixth. Second baseman Brandon Phillips saved any damage by making a diving stop on Blake DeWitt.
When Belisle gave up a leadoff single to Chin-lung Hu to lead the seventh, Bill Bray was brought in and things turn ugly.
After a sacrifice bunt, Juan Pierre singled to make it 3-0 and Andre Ethier beat an infield single, signaling the arrival of Jared Burton for the Reds. A fourth run scored on an infield roller on which the Reds couldn't turn a double play.
Although Billingsley's record is dull, not glossy, manager Dusty Baker said the scouting reports indicated something different, something the Reds saw Tuesday night.
"We just got a good-pitched game against us," said Baker. "Our reports said he had been throwing the ball very well. It said if he gets his breaking ball over, he's tough. That's what he went to tonight and he located his fastball well and he had great command.
"We didn't have a bunch of opportunities," Baker added. "The one chance we had to get back into the game he threw a double play pitch and that was really the only opportunity we had."
That came in the sixth when the Reds had runners on first and third with one out, trailing 2-0. Brandon Phillips bounced into an inning-ending double play.
The Reds scored their run in the ninth on a pair of two-out hits by Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnacion, but pinch-hitter Ryan Freel struck out to end it.
