Game One: 09 Reds 5, 69 Reds 4 (10 innings)
WP: Burton (1-0)
LP: Granger (0-1)
Save: Cordero (1)
HR: L May (1), Bench (1)
Game Two: 09 Reds 10, 69 Reds 9
WP: Cueto (1-0)
LP: Cloninger (0-1)
Save: Cordero (2)
HR: Nix (1), Rose (1), Tolan (1)
Game Three: 69 Reds 9, 09 Reds 4
WP: Maloney (1-0)
LP: Harang (0-1)
HR: Tolan (2), Bench (2)
Game Four: 09 Reds 8, 69 Reds 7
WP: K Wells (1-0)
LP: Granger (0-2)
HR: A Gonzalez (1), Bruce (1), Tolan (3)
Game Five: 69 Reds 6, 09 Reds 5
WP: Carroll (1-0)
LP: K Wells (1-1)
Save: Granger (1)
HR: Perez (1), Votto (1), Rose (2)
Game Six: 09 Reds 4, 69 Reds 3
WP: Cueto (2-0)
LP: Cloninger (0-2)
Save: Cordero (3)
HR: Perez (2), Bruce (2)
The 2009 Reds won four one-run games to take a high-scoring series.
Game One, played in 1969's Crosley Field, opened with a bang. The 09 Reds peppered Jim Merritt for four runs on five hits (two of them doubles) and a walk in the top of the first. The home team chipped away one run at a time -- Johnny Bench homered in the second, pinch-hitter Jimmy Stewart doubled and scored in in the fifth, Bobby Tolan had an RBI single in the seventh and Lee May tied it at four with a homer in the eighth. But in the 10th, Brandon Phillips singled, took second on a ground out and scored on Scott Rolen base hit, and Francisco Cordero navigated the potent middle of the 69ers lineup for the save.
The 09ers had another big inning to open Game Two, with Laynce Nix capping a five-run first with a grand slam. All the action followed a pair of strikeouts. The 09ers added another five runs off starter Tony Cloninger and reliever George Culver in the second, at one point garnering six consecutive singles. Culver and bullpen mates Jack Fisher, Granger and Garry Arrigo shut out the visitors after the second inning, but the 69ers couldn't quite catch up. Tolan hit for the cycle: singles in the first and sixth innings, double in the third, homer in the fifth, triple in the ninth.
The series shifted to 2009 and Great American Ballpark. Once again the visitors ran up a big number in the top of the first. Pete Rose led off with a triple. Alex Johnson singled, and Tolan homered. Two outs later, Bench homered for a 4-0 lead. Jim Maloney gave much of that lead back in the second (a bases-clearing double by pitcher Aaron Harang), but the 69ers never gave up the lead,
Game Four broke the pattern and was scoreless through four innings. But then the runs started coming in again. It was 4-2 for the 09 reds after six innings, 6-4 for the 09ers after seven, 7-6 for the 69ers after eight. Wayne Granger couldn't get an out in the bottom of the ninth, however. Jay Bruce led off with a home run, Rolen walked, Chris Dickerson doubled Rolen to to third and Ryan Hanigan singled over the drawn-in outfield to end it.
The 69 Reds staved off elimination in Game Five. Woody Woodward and Chico Ruiz (the latter playing first base for the injured May) singled home runs in the second inning and Rose homered in the third as the 69ers built a 4-1 lead. But errors by Tolan and Tommy Helms helped the 09 Reds even the score at 4 after seven innings. Tony Perez broke the tie in the eighth and Ruiz added an insurance run with a ninth-inning double, which proved useful when Joey Votto hit a two-out homer off Granger in the bottom of the inning.
Game Six was back in Crosley Field, and Perez hit a two run homer in the bottom of the first to stake Cloninger to an early lead. An error by Johnson allowed the visitors to tie the score in the fourth, and Bruce broke the tie with a sixth-inning homer. Another Johnson misplay with two outs in the seventh allowed an insurance run to score. A ninth inning rally against Cordero scored one run and left the tying run on third when May flew out to end the game and the series.
Player of the series: Bobby Tolan was 15-for-29 in a losing cause with three homers, six runs and eight RBIs.
Player availability: Rolen, if active for the second round, will have to miss Game 1 with an injury. Johnny Cueto cannot start until Game Three.
Projected rotation: Arroyo-Harang-Cueto-Bailey-(Arroyo)-(Harang)-(Cueto)
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