• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Cueto dominant as Reds edge Diamondbacks

Apr 3, 2008 - 8:40 PM By Doug Tifft PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Johnny Cueto made his major league debut after only 87 minor-league appearances Thursday - and what a debut it was.

Cueto pitched seven stellar innings, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The 22-year-old Cueto (1-0) became the first Red to win his debut since Tom Shearn pulled off the feat on August 26, 2007.

"I was very confident (before the game)," Cueto said. "That was what I had in mind. To throw (something similar to) seven innings of one hit ball."

The righthander allowed only one run and one hit, striking out 10.

"He's got three really great pitches. He's got the fastball that was lighting up the radar gun, that he was moving in and out," Reds catcher Paul Bako said. "He's got a good slider and a great changeup. He's got a lot of weapons."

The 10 strikeouts were the most for any Reds pitcher in his first major league appearance since 1900.

The key to Cueto's success was getting ahead of hitters, as he never got into a three-ball count, only reaching two balls seven times.

"The strikeouts are great, but the fact that he had no walks was the most impressive part to me," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.

Cueto was perfect through five innings before allowing a solo home run to Justin Upton to lead off the sixth inning.

"The thing that I liked best was that after he gave up the home run, it did not seem to affect him," Baker said.

The Reds gave Cueto a cushion in the first, when Ken Griffey Jr. blooped a double to left and Brandon Phillips followed with a double into the left field corner.

Phillips scored when second baseman Orlando Hudson misplayed a groundball.

In the second, the Reds tacked on a third run as Jeff Keppinger hit his first home run of the season to left. Keppinger was 3-for-3 in Wednesday's 6-5 win and continued his strong performance a day later, going 2-for-3.

Cincinnati righthander David Weathers took the ball in the eighth but was only able to retire one batter before loading the bases. Mike Lincoln took over and limited the damage to only one run on a sacrifice fly by Alex Romero.

Francisco Cordero worked a scoreless ninth to record his first save since signing a four-year, $44 million deal with the Reds in the offseason.

"Cueto was so good today that people probably don't notice (my save) today," Cordero said. "I just wanted to get my job done so that he could get the win, because when you pitch like that you deserve to get a win."

Arizona starter Doug Davis (0-1) lasted 3 2/3 innings, allowing three runs - two earned - and four hits with six walks.