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Griffey makes history as Reds pound Braves

Jul 17, 2007 - 4:27 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Ken Griffey, Jr. made some history and the Cincinnati Reds wasted no time helping Bobby Livingston to his second major league win.

Griffey smashed a three-run homer and Livingston hurled five effective frames and helped his own cause with four hits to lead the Reds to a 10-3 rout of the Atlanta Braves in the opener of a three-game set on Monday.

Griffey, a future Hall of Famer, entered Monday tied with Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for sixth place on the all-time home run list with 586 homers.

In his second at-bat, the 13-time All-Star broke the tie by smashing his 24th homer of the season off reliever Oscar Villareal for a 5-0 Cincinnati edge.

"The most important thing is that we got the win," an understated Griffey said. "That's something we haven't done a lot of in the second half."

His teammates had quite a different take on the subject.

"I told him congratulations," Livingston said. "He doesn't think it's a big deal. I think it's awesome."

Livingston (2-0), who was recalled from Class AAA Louisville prior to the game, allowed two runs, eight hits, walked two and struck out four in five frames.

"My changeup was working and my sinker," Livingston said. "I made some pitches when I needed to."

The 24-year-old's 4-for-4 night at the plate made him the first Reds pitcher to collect four hits since John Smiley had four singles in Montreal on June 7, 1993.

"Probably, the four hits," Livingston said when he was asked which he'd remember the hits or Griffey's historic homer. "It's something I can tell my grandkids."

"That's not fun," Griffey joked of Livingston's offensive outburst. "It just takes me out of my pinch hitting role. They'll call him now."

Cincinnati wasted no time getting to Atlanta starter Kyle Davies (4-8), who failed to record an out in the first inning.

Ryan Freel led off the game with a single and advanced to second on a walk by Scott Hatteberg. Griffey followed with a single to load the bases.

A wild Davies, who hurled just seven of his 22 pitches for strikes, issued bases-loaded free passes to Adam Dunn and Jose Valentin to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

"It's obviously not the way you want to go out there and pitch," Davies said. "I dug us a pretty big hole and we never got out of it."

Davies, who entered this one sporting a gaudy lifetime 6.08 ERA - the worst mark of any active starting pitcher who has hurled more than 200 innings - allowed two runs and two hits while walking three.

In the process, he became the first Atlanta pitcher to leave a start without retiring a batter since Greg Maddux on September 22, 2001. Maddux left that one due to an elbow injury.

The last time a healthy Atlanta starter left in similar circumstances was Len Barker on September 18, 1985, against the Reds. The 23-year-old Davies was just two years old.

"He couldn't really locate his fastball," said Braves manager Bobby Cox, who could not remember the last time he yanked a healthy starting pitcher before he retired a batter. "He fell behind on everybody and was way, way, way off the mark."

The normally reliable Braves defense was essentially as atrocious as the Atlanta righthander.

In the third, Edwin Encarnacion led off the frame with a single and advanced to second fielding error by Yunel Escobar. Livingston followed with a bunt single down the third base line.

With no one covering the plate, an alert Encarnacion scored all the way from second base to give Cincinnati a 6-0 edge.

Two innings later, the Reds added two more unearned runs thanks to Edgar Renteria's fielding error. An unearned run following Scott Thorman's throwing error in the ninth pushed Cincinnati's run total to double digits at 10-3.

Atlanta was equally as feeble at the plate. The Braves squandered bases-loaded opportunities in the fifth and seventh, stranded 12 runners on base and were a miserable 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

"We just didn't play good all around," Jeff Francoeur said. "It was a bad game."

An agitated Francoeur was ejected in the fifth inning by plate umpire Angel Hernandez after he threw his bat and helmet violently to the ground on a disputed strike three call with the bases loaded.

"I was just frustrated," Francoeur said. "It was a big opportunity to get our team back in the ballgame. When he called that, it upset me and took me over the top."

Quite fittingly, the game was delayed for 11 minutes after Francoeur's outburst when the power to a bank of lights down the left field line failed.

Andruw Jones drove all three runs for the Braves, who had a four game winning streak snapped.