Frankie Montas couldn't have made a stronger impression as the Reds' No. 1 starter
SPORTS

Reds' offense come alive in homecoming win over Twins

John Fay
jfay@enquirer.com
Twins relief pitcher J.R. Graham looks back to first base as Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton takes his lead during the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Reds spent three days in New York spinning their collective wheels on offense. A little home cooking got them rolling Monday night.

They scored early and often on their way to a 11-7 win over the Minnesota Twins before a crowd of 28,904 at Great American Ball Park.

All eight position players had at least one hit. Billy Hamilton went 2-for-3 with two walks, four stolen bases and three runs scored. Tucker Barnhart went 4-for-5 with two RBI. Eugenio Suarez went 3-for-4 with three RBI.

BOX SCORE: Reds 11, Twins 7

Hamilton, back in the leadoff spot, scored a run in each of the first three innings.

"Their pitchers were very, very quick to the plate," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "But Billy was still able to run. I was really happy with the results. (Hamilton's) been working really hard with (hitting coach Don Long) on hitting the ball on the ground, getting his bunts down.

"It's the thing we need from him to be successful."

The outburst came after the Reds scored a total of four runs over 31 innings in a three-game sweep by the Mets.

The Reds needed all that offense with the way Mike Leake pitched. Leake only lasted four innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits. He walked one and struck out five.

"He made some mistakes," Price said. "I just don't think he had his A-grade command today. We got the big lead and he was trying to do nothing more than stay in the strike zone. He was missing and getting in some bad counts."

Hamilton opened the first with a bunt that just made it by pitcher Mike Pelfrey. Second baseman Brian Dozier fielded it, but Hamilton easily beat it out. It was his sixth successful bunt attempt in his last 10 tries.

"I was just trying to be aggressive like I was in the nine hole," Hamilton said.

Ivan De Jesus Jr. followed with a bloop single to right, sending Hamilton to third. Joey Votto walked to load the bases.

Todd Frazier made it 1-0 with a line-drive single to left. Jay Bruce got another run in with a sacrifice fly to left. Votto moved to third on Marlon Byrd's fly to deep center.

Barnhart pushed the lead to 3-0 with an opposite-field single to left.

Leake gave up a leadoff double to Trevor Plouffe to start the second. Eddie Rosario followed with a single. Leake got Kurt Suzuki to hit into a double play. Plouffe scored on the play to make it 3-1.

Hamilton got things started in the second with an eight-pitch at-bat that ended in a walk. He stole second and third. De Jesus got Hamilton in with a chopper against the drawn-in infield.

The Reds kept adding on. Bruce led off the third with a double. Byrd followed with a single. Barnhart got in Bruce with another opposite-field single.

Eugenio Suarez shot one into the gap in left-center for a two-run double. That made it 7-1 and ended Pelfrey's night.

Alex Meyer took over and walked Hamilton and De Jesus. Votto hit one to the wall in left for a very long two-run single, and it was 9-1.

Leake struck out the side in the third, but he suddenly lost it in the fourth. The Twins sent 10 hitters to the plate in the inning.

Dozier capped the scoring with a three-run homer on an 0-2 pitch that made it 9-7.

The rough inning, of course, came after Leake sat while the Reds sent 10 men to the plate in the third.

"I got a little bored," he said. "But it's not an excuse. I just elevated some balls - they took advantage of it and put a good inning together."

The Reds added one in the sixth. Byrd singled with one out. Barnhart followed with a double to left. Suarez was sent up to suicide squeeze. His bunt was perfect - so perfect that he beat it out for a hit. Byrd scored to make it 10-7.

Bruce made it 11-7 with a two-out RBI double in the seventh.

The bullpen was as good as Leake was bad. The relievers did not allow a hit over the last five innings. Nate Adcock took over for Leake and put up zeros in the fifth and sixth to earn the win.

"It was a good win for the ballclub," Adcock said. "I just tried to go in and do my job and keep the lead where it was at. I kept the ball down and attacked the zone."

Manny Parra pitched the seventh and eighth and did not allow a base-runner. Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth in a non-save situation.

"The key was we didn't let this one get away," Price said. "It was starting to get that feeling that it was slipping away. Adcock and Parra came up big. We were able to get those add-on runs to keep them from getting too excited."