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Owings comes through in pinch as Reds top Brewers

Sep 21, 2008 - 3:03 AM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- It's looking more and more like the Milwaukee Brewers' postseason drought will continue.

Pitcher-turned-pinch hitter extraordinaire Micah Owings plated a pair of runs in the sixth inning, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory over the fading Brewers on Saturday.

Adam Rosales also had a pinch single in the three-run sixth for the Reds, who have won six of seven.

Prince Fielder delivered an RBI double but also committed a costly error for Milwaukee (84-71), which trails the New York Mets (86-68) by 2 1/2 in the wild card race. The Mets fell out of first place in the National League East with a loss to Atlanta and a win by Philadelphia on Saturday.

The Brewers have squandered a 5 1/2-game lead in the wild card standings over the last month.

"It's frustrating," said Milwaukee's CC Sabathia (9-2), who lost his second straight start. "Being ahead four or five games and now being down two or three. But there is a lot of baseball left."

Not really, as the Brewers have just seven games remaining to try and avoid a monumental collapse.

Milwaukee, which has not reached the postseason since 1982, has lost three straight and 15 of 19. The Brewers have been outscored, 104-59, in September, and even Sabathia - who won his first nine decisions with the team - is starting to show cracks.

The 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner, Sabathia was forced to pitch on three days' rest after Ben Sheets' elbow injury and a 12-inning loss on Thursday shook up the rotation. Sabathia allowed four runs - one earned - and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

"I felt good. Just like a normal start," Sabathia said. "(I could do it again in three days) without a doubt."

Sabathia may have felt good, but he was outpitched by rookie Johnny Cueto (9-13), who allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.

"(Cueto) threw the ball well, only made one bad pitch to Rickie Weeks," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "He hung a slider to him. Other than that, he threw the ball great."

Ultimately, it was a combination of bad defense and a lack of clutch hitting that did in the Brewers. Cincinnati trailed, 2-1, entering the sixth before Fielder's error led to three runs.

Joey Votto led off with a single and Andy Phillips walked before Fielder bobbled a sacrifice by Corey Patterson. Three batters later, Owings blooped an opposite-field single over first base for a 3-2 edge.

Rosales followed with a run-scoring single for a 4-2 lead.

One of the better-hitting pitchers in baseball, Owings recorded his second go-ahead RBI in six days. He helped beat his former team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, on Sunday.

Owings was acquired from the Diamondbacks on September 12 but has yet to pitch for the Reds.

"I know CC was throwing a great game, and I have a lot of respect for him," Owings said. "So I was just trying to throw something out there, and it worked."

"Three weeks ago, that probably would have been a line drive right at somebody," Sabathia said of the bloop single. "That's just the way that things are going now."

The Brewers tried to rally in the seventh but failed to come up with a big hit. Milwaukee had runners on second and third with one out, but Jared Burton got Mike Cameron to fly out before Bill Bray retired pinch hitter Bill Hall on a pop-up to end the frame.

Overall, the Brewers left 19 runners on base.

There was more of the same in the ninth. Weeks, who had an RBI triple in the fourth, led off the frame with a homer off closer Francisco Cordero and Milwaukee went on to load the bases.

However, Cordero struck out Fielder to record his 32nd save in 37 chances.