DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — They are sputtering on three cylinders, spinning their wheels in the muck, their tongues hanging as they chase Pittsburgh and Houston in the National League Central.

Never mind Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis. Those three teams are distant cousins in far away domains.

That doesn't faze Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker, doesn't make him want to give up the ghost of 2008 and think about 2009.

"Never quit. Never say die. Never," he said before Monday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Despite losing eight of the previous nine that included three straight to the pathetic Washington Nationals, the Reds showed some spunk by stopping the Brewers, 6-3, behind Bronson Arroyo's pitching and hitting.

Arroyo held the second-place Brewers to one run and four hits over six innings and drove in the game's first runs with a two-run double in the fourth.

Asked if it isn't about time to think about next year and tinker with things, Baker said, "Not for me. Most of the guys who are pretty close to being major-league players are here already and have been most of the year. It isn't like we have 10 prospects at Triple-A who are ready to take a job up here.

"I always want to win, no matter who I put out there," he added. "It has been only a few seasons that I went into September and it didn't mean anything," Baker added. "And it's only August.

"In our division, a lot can turn around in a hurry," he added. "If you get hot, man, I've seen it. People think I'm the eternal optimist, but I can be that because I've seen that and done that.

"You try to finish as high as you can finish," he said. "These are primo times for somebody. When you are playing inside your division the last two months as much as we are, well, it might as well be us."

That is talk from high in a steeple, an unlikely scenario, but for one night the Reds seemed interested and dedicated to winning a game.

"It has been a struggle," he said. "But you keep fighting and you keep struggling. You don't look back. You look forward. Keep the spirits high."

Looking only one day back, the Reds are now 1-0.

Jeff Keppinger opened the bottom of the first with a walk, but the Reds didn't have another base runner until Jolbert Cabrera broke up Manny Parra's no-hit thoughts with a one-out single in the fifth.

Parra then walked Jay Bruce and David Ross to fill the bases and Arroyo banged a two-run double into the left field corner. Joey Votto pulled a two-run single to right and Parra's no-hitter was now a 4-0 Reds' lead.

Arroyo has four hits in his last six at-bats and said with a smile, "I came in on an off day with one of my buddies and I changed my stance a little bit hitting in the cage, messing around. I was joking around and I said I was going to try it and it has been working.

"It's always luck when we (pitchers) get hits, but I'm feeling good at the plate," he said. "I'm crouching a little more and widened my stance to see if I could stay back on breaking stuff."

Spoken like a true Pete Rose.

Arroyo was nicked for a run in the sixth, but Bruce got two back in the bottom half.

Dropped to seventh in the order to protect him from the left-handed Parra, Bruce drove his 10th homer the opposite way over the left field wall for a 6-1 lead.

"When you are left-handed and hit a home run to left field off a left-hander, that means you're staying on the pitch, not pulling off," said Baker. "He hit a tough pitch."

Bruce smiled when it was mentioned he was dropped from third to seventh on this night because Parra might have been too tough.

"Dusty has no evidence as to why he shouldn't do that, but I know that I'll have no problems with lefties soon enough," he said. "You have to respect his decision. It's logical for right now until I show him otherwise. I will. It's just a matter of time."

After Parra left the game in the seventh, he and his first baseman, Prince Fielder, engaged in a brief dugout shoving match when Parra was walking toward the tunnel to leave and Fielder didn't like Parra leaving the scene.

"That's our first win since Ken Griffey Jr. was traded and it is always a shock to a team when a guy who has been here a long time gets traded," said Baker.