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Bay, Nady power Pirates past Reds

May 27, 2007 - 4:38 AM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Jason Bay's hot bat kept the Cincinnati Reds reeling.

Bay had three hits and drove in three runs and Xavier Nady clubbed a three-run home run to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-5 victory over the Reds on Saturday night.

The Pirates overcame a miserable spot start by Shawn Chacon to send the Reds to their fifth consecutive loss.

Bay had RBI doubles in the first and fourth innings and a run-scoring single in the sixth. He went-3-for-4 and now has five hits and five RBI in the first two games of the series.

"The encouraging thing was eight of the nine runs were driven in by our four, five, and six hitters," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said.

Adam LaRoche also homered for Pittsburgh, which had six pitchers issue nine walks, including a pair that forced in runs for the Reds, who left the bases loaded in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The nine walks equaled a season high.

"We would have liked to have gone longer with Chacon but he got his pitch count up in a hurry," Tracy said. "(Ken) Griffey was up and we didn't want the game to get away from us."

Cincinnati ace Bronson Arroyo, who was tagged for six runs and lasted just two innings in his last start, again was roughed up in the first inning.

The lanky righthander had not allowed more than three runs in seven of his first nine starts, but for the second straight outing put the Reds in a 4-0 hole after one inning.

All the runs came with two outs, and Arroyo (2-5) did not help himself by putting two runners aboard via a walk and hit batsman.

"I had pretty good stuff coming in," Arroyo said. "Then I walked (Chris) Duffy in the first. I'm just not in the groove. I feel kind of sloppy. Nothing's crisp. I get into holes and I haven't been able to dig myself out of it the last three starts."

Bay, who homered in Friday night's 10-4 win, drilled an RBI double to left for a 1-0 lead and Nady followed with a three-run homer to left for a 4-0 cushion. It was Nady's second blast in as many nights and his seventh of the season.

"It's always nice to strike first," Nady said. "It was still early and we kept scoring to keep the pressure on. It's nice when guys in front of you have good at-bats so you can see a lot of pitches."

Arroyo allowed six runs and seven hits in four innings. He walked four and did not strike out a batter in suffering his third straight defeat.

Chacon, making his first start of the season, did not make it out of the fourth inning. He gave up one run on a bases-loaded walk to Adam Dunn in the third, and was knocked out of the game in the fourth after loading the bases by hitting Scott Hatteberg with a pitch.

"That third inning took a lot out of me," Chacon said. "Walking Dunn with the bases loaded didn't hurt that bad. He can tie it up in a hurry. I tried to make some good pitches and some were close but he walked. You just go after the next batter."

The short outing was part of the deal.

"I didn't expect to be sharp. This is something to build on. I ran out of gas."

Lefthander Jason Grabow (1-1) replaced him and escaped the jam by getting Griffey Jr. to ground out to second base to end the inning.

Chacon gave up just one run and three hits in 3 2/3 innings, but he walked five and had two strikeouts.

The Reds had the bases loaded for the third straight inning in the fifth but could muster just one run off Grabow - again on a walk - to cut it to 6-2.

"We had the bases loaded three times and a chance to get back into it real quick," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "We just couldn't get that big hit tonight."

Hatteberg belted a solo homer - the 100th of his career - in the eighth for Cincinnati. Edwin Encarnacion and Alex Gonzalez added solo shots in the ninth off Brian Rogers.

As much as the five-game losing streak, Arroyo's health is a concern for Cincinnati.

"Even the last time, when he came out in the second inning, he said he was ready to go to the bullpen the next night if we needed him, Narron said. "He's fine as far as I know."

Arroyo denied there was anything physically wrong with him.

"Physically, I feel pretty good," Arroyo said. "I've felt pretty average the last two starts. The ball just doesn't feel crisp coming out of my hand. It's just one of those things where I'm going through a spell, and with the kind of season we've had, it just gets magnified."