Reds on a roll, top Diamondbacks 4-3

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-09 16:38

NEW YORK, July 8 - Scott Hatteberg's two-out, 11th inning single lifted the Cincinnati Reds to their fourth consecutive win on Sunday, a 4-3 home victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hatteberg's fourth hit of the game drove in Edwin Encarnacion to give the Reds a sweep of the Diamondbacks and their fifth win in six games under interim manager Pete Mackanin.

"I'm watching all the at-bats prior to me, and (Arizona reliever Jose Valverde) was throwing his fastball a lot," Hatteberg told reporters.

"I figured, if he throws it over the plate, I'm going to jump on it. And he did, and I just happened to carve it away from the left fielder."

Encarnacion had walked, stolen second and moved to third on a fielder's choice to help rally the Reds.

The win was the sixth in 10 games for the Reds, who are struggling at the bottom of the NL Central 13 games behind Milwaukee.

"In the last week, we've really done well in pretty much all aspects, and we've shown a lot of heart," Hatteberg said of the team's play under Mackanin, who replaced Jerry Narron on July 1. "It's a looser atmosphere, more positive."

Cincinnati held a 3-0 lead after five innings on homers by Hatteberg and David Ross in the first and second and a double-play ball on which Hatteberg scored in the fifth.

But Arizona came back to tie the score on Chris Young's seventh-inning homer and run-scoring hits by Miguel Montero and Orlando Hudson in the ninth.

Hudson drove in the tying run with a single that scored pinch-runner Scott Hairston. Hairston was running for Montero, who had doubled home Jeff Salazar.

"It seems like we battle back a little too late," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin told reporters.

"It's almost like 'Groundhog Day.' We don't do anything early in the game, then we come back late -- in the eighth and ninth innings -- before losing late."

*Russell Martin homered, drove in three runs and scored three times as the Los Angeles Dodgers ended a four-game skid with a 9-3 home win over the Florida Marlins.

*Brian McCann used a first-inning homer and a sixth-inning single to drive in four runs as the Atlanta Braves beat former team mate Greg Maddux and the San Diego Padres 5-4.

*Chris Duncan drove in three runs and the St. Louis Cardinals shut out the San Francisco Giants 7-0.



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