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Young's three hits helps Nationals win first road series

May 25, 2007 - 5:21 AM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- If this is the way that old friends treat the Cincinnati Reds when they return to their old stomping grounds, they would just as soon not see familiar faces anymore.

Dmitri Young had three hits and Mike Bacsik pitched seven-plus strong innings as the Washington Nationals posted a 4-3 victory over the Reds on Thursday to post their first road series win of the season.

In two of their three wins over Cincinnati in this series, former Reds players have stepped up in a big way to down their previous employer.

With Washington leading, 2-0, in the fourth on Thursday, Young roped an RBI single to center off Cincinnati starter Matt Belisle (4-4) to increase the Washington lead to 3-0.

In his next at-bat, the former Red sent a sinking liner to left field past Adam Dunn, good for a double and notch his third hit of the game, putting the Nationals up for good at 4-1.

"I'm seeing the ball real well," Young said. "I got a little help from Adam Dunn and I appreciated it."

"We made some aggressive mistakes early in the game," Cincinnati manager Jerry Narron said. "Everyone is trying hard to make things happen."

The run turned out to be the difference.

Young, who played with Cincinnati from 1998-2001, recorded his third multiple-hit game in the four-game series against the Reds. This came two days after Felipe Lopez, acquired from Cincinnati last season in a eight-player deal, hit a grand slam and tied a career high with six RBI on Tuesday.

The trio of former Reds - Young, Lopez and Austin Kearns - batted a combined .385 (20-for-52) with two home runs and 14 RBI in the series.

"We had some timely hitting all series," Young said. "I had some tonight, Lopez on Tuesday and (Ryan) Church last night. We've been playing well all year, even when we were losing close games. Manny (manager Manny Acta) told us to keep it up and it will turn around."

Young is hitting .565 (13-for-23) with four doubles, a home run and eight RBI in his last eight games.

"Dmitri's locked in," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "You can see by the way he's taking pitches. We have to keep him fresh."

Bacsik (1-0), making just his second start of the season, made the lead hold up as he allowed three runs and seven hits with a walk and four strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings. The lefthander won his first game since August 4, 2004, marking the second consecutive contest in which a pitcher notched his first road win in over two years.

Wednesday's starter, Jason Simontacchi, registered his first road win since 2003 in the Nationals' 12-7 win.

"Honestly, early in the game I wasn't throwing that well," Bacsik said. "I'm sure if you ask them they'll tell you they just missed. I got away with some pitches. I was frustrated. I knew if I didn't get better, I'd get killed."

Fortunately for him and the Nationals he got better.

Cristian Guzman hit his first homer since September 15, 2005, and Kearns, had two hits and an RBI for Washington, which has won 10 of their last 14 contests.

The Nationals won three of the four games in the series for the franchise's first winning trip to Cincinnati since September 26-28, 2003, when they were still known as the Montreal Expos.

Belisle surrendered four runs and a career-high 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts over seven frames.

The Reds, however, did not go down without a fight. Down, 4-1, in the eighth, pinch hitter Norris Hopper reached on a bunt single to put two runners for the Reds with no outs. Ryan Freel hit a low line drive to Lopez at second, whose underhanded flip to Guzman went wide left of second base in an effort to double Ross.

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman tracked the ball down in shallow left and easily threw Ross out as he tried to advance to third with Bacsik alertly covering the base.

"I am supposed to back up third anyway and started over (to the base)," Bacsik said. "I saw Zimmerman chasing the ball and went directly to third. I was hoping he wouldn't try to bowl me over. He slid and I said, 'Thank you'."

"David tried to make something happen," Narron said. "I'm sure he saw third base wasn't covered and took off."

Erasing Ross proved crucial as Alex Gonzalez took Bacsik's 100th pitch of the contest over the fence in left-center for a two-run homer. Reliever Billy Traber immediately relieved Bacsik, who was cut by the Nationals last season, and recorded the final out of the eighth.

Traber gave way to closer Chad Cordero, who worked around a walk in the ninth for his sixth save in 10 chances.

"It was a shot-in-the arm outing," Acta said. "We only had Traber and Cordero available in the bullpen. Bacsik showed a lot of character coming back after we cut him last year. He throws strikes and doesn't beat himself. Everyone knows he's not overpowering but he can spot his fastball and get it inside when he needs to."

Dunn ended a 11-game homerless streak with a solo shot in the fifth for Cincinnati, which fell behind the Nationals for the worst record in the National League with the loss and has dropped 17 of their last 22 games.

Dunn and Gonzalez were the only Cincinnati hitters that had ever faced Bacsik prior the game, with each player hitting a homer against the lefthander.