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Thompson sharp in debut as Reds blank Yanks

Jun 21, 2008 - 9:30 PM By Zachary Braziller PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- On Friday night, Edinson Volquez cooled off the New York Yankees' hot bats. A day later, Daryl Thompson kept them quiet.

Thompson tossed five dominant innings in his major league debut as the last-place Cincinnati Reds blanked the Yankees, 6-0, on Saturday for their second straight win in the series.

The 22-year-old Thompson pitched in and out of trouble, allowing four hits and four walks, as the Yankees could not take advantage of their opportunities.

"He's a young man recently out of Double-A making his debut at Yankee Stadium," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "He was impressive."

Thompson did not get a decision as 31-year-old Dan Giese (1-2) shut out the Reds through six innings in his first major league start. It marked the first time two pitchers each made their first major league starts at Yankee Stadium since April 26, 1926, when Myles Thomas of the Yankees opposed Boston's Tony Welzer in a 10-9 10-inning win for the Red Sox.

Still, Thompson was thrilled with his performance.

"It's unbelievable," said Thompson, a Maryland native who visited the Bronx for the first time in his life. "It's almost too good to be true."

Giese, a career journeyman was every bit as good as Thompson, but his throwing error led to four unearned runs in the seventh, when the Reds broke through on Edwin Encarnacion's two-run single and Corey Patterson's two-run home run.

After Ken Griffey Jr. led off the seventh with a single, Brandon Phillips hit a comebacker, but Giese hesitated briefly and his throw pulled second baseman Robinson Cano off the bag.

Joey Votto followed with a grounder to third. Instead of running to the base to get a forceout, third baseman Alex Rodriguez tried to tag Griffey and missed him, leaving runners on second and third after throwing to first to get Votto.

Giese, who earned his first career win earlier this year in relief, struck out Adam Dunn and was one pitch away from getting out of the inning, but Encarnacion lined an 0-2 into left field. Patterson greeted reliever Jose Veras by blasting a homer off the facing of the upper deck in right field.

The Reds tacked on two runs more in the eighth on Phillips' two-run single off Ross Ohlendorf.

"You never feel comfortable here," Baker added. "I'm glad we got those insurance runs."

After Volquez held the Yankees to two runs and seven hits over seven innings in Friday's 4-2 win, Thompson showed the poise of a veteran, working out of two major threats.

In the second, he escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam as Jorda Posada and Melky Cabrera struck out swinging, sandwiched around Cano's foul out.

"That boosted me up a whole lot, to get out of the inning, especially against the Yankees," Thompson said. "Bases loaded, no outs - to get out of it was a big thing for me."

The Yankees got their first two runners on in the third, as Johnny Damon walked and Derek Jeter singled, but they could not advance the runners as Thompson got Bobby Abreu, Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui to fly out.

The bullpen picked up Thompson as four relievers combined to allow only three hits in four innings. Bill Bray (2-0) followed Thompson with 1 1/3 innings to record the win.

Prior to Friday, New York had scored 45 runs during a season-high seven-game winning streak.

"We're better," Damon said. "During the winning streak, we've been getting better. Today, we weren't. The guy (Thompson) just had enough to get the job done. He was challenging us. We had a number of pitches in the heart of the plate. We kept missing them."

The tone may have been set early as Jeter grounded into a double play after Damon led off the bottom of the first with a walk. The Yankees, who were blanked at home for the second time this season, stranded 12.