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Arroyo keys Reds past Braves

Aug 23, 2007 - 3:14 AM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Bronson Arroyo used his arm and his bat to help the Cincinnati Reds continue their dominance of the Atlanta Braves this season.

Arroyo allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings and had a key run-scoring single to lead the Reds to a 4-2 victory over the Braves at the Great American Ball Park on Wednesday.

Josh Hamilton and Jeff Keppinger hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning as Cincinnati improved to 5-1 against Atlanta on the season.

With the loss, the Braves (66-61) remained six games behind the first-place New York Mets (71-54) in the National League East Division but dropped to two games behind the San Diego Padres (67-58) in the wild card standings.

"There isn't really a lot of urgency," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "We have a good team. We just need to win a couple games."

With the Reds leading, 2-1, in the bottom of the fifth inning, Arroyo helped his own cause when he bounced a base hit to left field, scoring Javier Valentin from second base. The throw from left fielder Willie Harris got away from catcher Brian McCann and went into the dugout, allowing a second run to score for a 4-1 advantage.

Arroyo had taken a pitch before missing a bunt attempt during his at-bat. Cincinnati interim manager Pete Mackanin then removed the bunt sign.

"Managers get ragged on certain things," Mackanin said. "Once in a while, you like to take credit. It's nice when it works, especially if it helps win a ballgame."

"I took a pitch, then looked horrible trying to bunt," Arroyo said. "(Atlanta starter Lance Cormier) hadn't thrown me a cutter yet, so I thought I'd be able to get a four-seamer over the plate and sneak one through. I guess Pete had more confidence in me swinging away after he saw me try to bunt."

Arroyo (7-13) had escaped a key one-out, bases-loaded jam in the top of the fifth to preserve what was a slim one-run lead. Mark Teixeira fouled out to third and McCann grounded into a forceout to end the inning.

"I felt good," said Arroyo, who threw 34 pitches in the first inning. "It was hot, but it really didn't bother me. I felt better in the sixth than I did in the first."

Relievers Mike Stanton and Jared Burton combined to pitch a scoreless 2 2/3 innings before David Weathers worked the ninth for his 27th save.

McCann and Andruw Jones each hit solo home runs for the Braves, who left 11 men on base and have now lost five of their last seven games.

"It's frustrating," McCann said. "When we pitch, we don't hit. When we hit, we don't pitch. We need to start playing better. We had an opportunity to win that game and should have won, regardless."

Atlanta got on the board first on McCann's 15th home run of the season, which opened a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. The All-Star catcher has now homered in each of the three games against the Reds this series.

Cincinnati answered right back in the bottom of the inning to take the lead on the back-to-back solo homers by Hamilton and Keppinger.

Cormier (0-4) retired the first nine Reds he faced but yielded four runs and four hits while striking out three in five innings.

"Cormier's pitched well since we brought him up," Cox said. "He did decent tonight. He gave up a couple home runs and walked the eighth hitter, which isn't always good."

Jones' solo blast to left field in the sixth cut the Braves' deficit to 4-2. But Teixeira, who was representing the tying run, struck out in the ninth to end the game.

Braves shortstop Edgar Renteria, who missed 17 games with a sprained right ankle, was activated from the disabled list before the game but left after one pitch in the top of the first inning when he aggravated the injury.

"He hurt it backing away from the pitch," Cox said. "We gave him tests and you couldn't tell he even had an injury before we activated him. We'll evaluate him tomorrow."