Aug 31, 2008 - 4:31 PM
0 shoutsBy Doug Tifft PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer
CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Bronson Arroyo gave the Cincinnati Reds a quality start, and provided his own offense as the Reds beat the San Francisco Giants 9-2 on Sunday to complete a three game sweep.
Arroyo (13-10), who is 9-3 with a 3.30 ERA in his last 12 starts, limited his damage to two runs despite surrendering 10 hits in seven innings of work.
Arroyo traced his recent success to a technical change he made a few months back.
"I changed the grip on my sinker. I wanted to try something one day in the bullpen," Arroyo said. "As you pitch longer and longer in the league people always make adjustments to you.
"I have been throwing fastball on the outer half and breaking balls to right-handers my whole career. Now I can throw the sinker on the inner half, and I have gotten a lot more double play balls when I need them."
Arroyo helped his own cause in the fifth inning, breaking open a 3-2 game with a bases loaded double to left field that scored two runs and raised his batting average to .196.
"I have definitely felt better as of late at the plate, but it is always a crapshoot. I was looking for a breaking ball there and he happened to hang it inside," Arroyo said. "If he throws a good one on the outer half then I probably miss it."
San Francisco righthander Matt Cain agreed with the assessment.
"That was just a bad pitch in a bad location," Cain said of Arroyo's double. "If you make a god pitch in a good location then that does not happen."
Arroyo's double knocked Cain (8-11) out of the game. The righthander, who had a 2.13 ERA in his last nine starts, lasted only last five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and five walks.
Cain traced his troubles to his propensity of giving free passes on the afternoon.
"I don't know that a lot of the walks necessarily ended up scoring, but they certainly drove up my pitch count (and made for a short outing)," Cain said.
The Reds offense came to the support of Arroyo due in large part to the contributions of Joey Votto, who went 4-5 with four RBI on the day and padded his rookie lead in three-hit games with 17.
"Joy Votto is as hot as anyone in baseball," Reds manager Dusty Baker said of his first baseman, who is hitting .400 (32-80) in his last 23 games.
Arroyo, whose lone blemishes were an RBI single by Aaron Rowand in the first and a solo home run by Emmanual Burriss, was followed by scoreless innings from Gary Majewski and Jeremy Affeldt.
From the Bleachers
-
SAN FRANCISCO: 6
CINCINNATI: 7
Final
Aug 30 10:02 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
TRIPLE BY COREY PATTERSON SCORED JAY BRUCE.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, C PATTERSON ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 6
CINCINNATI 7 BOTTOM, 8TH
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: R HANIGAN (.276, 1-FOR-2, HBP, 2 RBI)
Aug 30 9:47 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY AARON ROWAND (13) TO RIGHT CENTER WITH 2
OUT IN THE 8TH OFF MIKE LINCOLN.
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 6, CINCINNATI 6
DUE UP FOR SAN FRANCISCO: R AURILIA (.272, 0-FOR-3)
Aug 30 9:30 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
BENGIE MOLINA HIT INTO DOUBLE PLAY SCORING FRED LEWIS.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, NONE ON, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 5
CINCINNATI 6 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR SAN FRANCISCO: A ROWAND (.278, 0-FOR-3)
Aug 30 9:29 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY RANDY WINN (9) TO CENTER WITH 0 OUT IN THE
8TH OFF BILL BRAY.
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 4, CINCINNATI 6
DUE UP FOR SAN FRANCISCO: F LEWIS (.286, 0-FOR-3)
Aug 30 9:22 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY EDWIN ENCARNACION (24) TO CENTER WITH 1
OUT IN THE 3RD OFF KEVIN CORREIA.
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 3, CINCINNATI 6
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: J BRUCE (.252, 0-FOR-0, BB)
Aug 30 8:08 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY EUGENIO VELEZ (1) TO RIGHT WITH 2 OUT
IN THE 2ND OFF RAMON RAMIREZ SCORED EMMANUEL BURRISS.
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 3, CINCINNATI 5
DUE UP FOR SAN FRANCISCO: K CORREIA (.130, 0 HR, 2 RBI)
Aug 30 7:44 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY RYAN HANIGAN SCORED JAY BRUCE AND COREY
PATTERSON.
SITUATION: 5 RUNS IN, R HANIGAN ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
CINCINNATI 5 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: R RAMIREZ (.000, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
Aug 30 7:33 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY COREY PATTERSON SCORED JOEY VOTTO.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, C PATTERSON ON FIRST, J BRUCE ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
CINCINNATI 3 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: R HANIGAN (.259, 2 HR, 4 RBI)
Aug 30 7:30 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY EDWIN ENCARNACION SCORED BRANDON PHILLIPS.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J VOTTO ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
CINCINNATI 2 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: J BRUCE (.252, 14 HR, 40 RBI)
Aug 30 7:28 PM -
NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY JEFF KEPPINGER SCORED CHRIS DICKERSON.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, NONE ON, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
CINCINNATI 1 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: B PHILLIPS (.263, 21 HR, 76 RBI)
Aug 30 7:23 PM -
NL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
SAN FRANCISCO 1 1 1 0
CINCINNATI 0 0 0 (BOT 1)
CURRENT PITCHERS: SFO - KEVIN CORREIA
CIN - RAMON RAMIREZ
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI:
Aug 30 7:17 PM
