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Hairston leads Reds past Nationals

Jul 6, 2008 - 3:50 AM By Doug Tift PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- After an injury-filled and inconsistent nine-year career, Jerry Hairston Jr. seems to have found a home at the top of the Cincinnati Reds lineup.

The righthanded hitting utilityman, playing shortstop on Saturday, sparked a ninth inning rally that gave the Reds a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.

"I just try to have good at-bats," Hairston said. "I told myself whenever I get a chance to play again I am not going to worry about (results). I am just going to try to have good at-bats."

"He has given us a tremendous spark," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "I always said the hardest guy to find is the leadoff man. (Jerry) is leading off as well as anybody in baseball right now."

Hairston, who leads the Reds with a .341 average including three hits on Saturday, led off the ninth inning with a single and then quickly stole second base.

After Jay Bruce struck out, and a walk to Ken Griffey Jr., Brandon Phillips singled to left field to score Hairston and give the Reds the win.

"It is a different guy (getting the big hit) every time," Phillips said. "Yesterday it was (Ken) Griffey. Today it was me."

The rally in the ninth inning came after each team came after Francisco Cordero (4-1) blew his fourth save of the season in the top of the ninth, but he still recorded the victory.

Runs were hard to come by all night for both sides early, as both teams were provided with quality starts from their starters.

Washington righthander Tim Redding went six innings, allowing one run on eight hits and striking out four as he became the 12th straight Nationals pitcher to have a quality start not be rewarded with a victory.

Meanwhile it took a hit from the bat of Redding, a single in the second inning, to supply the only run off of Cincinnati righthander Josh Fogg. Fogg allowed one run on six hits in six innings in his first start since being placed on the disabled list with lower back spasms on June 1.

"I had a little command trouble early," Fogg said. "I wasn't in the strike zone like I would like to be, but I made a couple of good pitches. Obviously the one to Redding wasn't great, but I managed to work around that run and my team did a good job of coming back."

David Weathers and Mike Lincoln each worked a scoreless inning of relief to follow Fogg before giving way to Cordero for the ninth.

To add insult to injury for Washington left fielder Elijah Dukes left the game in the seventh inning with a right knee patella tendon strain. Dukes, who suffered the injury when he crashed awkwardly into the left field wall after making a catch in the seventh inning, will undergo an MRI on Sunday and be re-evaluated at the point.