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CINCINNATI, Ohio—Cincinnati played small ball better than Pittsburgh on
Wednesday night, allowing the Reds to take another big step toward a division
championship. Andrew Luck Womens Jersey . Homer Bailey
pitched seven solid innings and Cincinnati came up with just enough offence to
squeeze out a 2-1 win for a three-game sweep of the Pirates. “I felt like it was
a battle all night,” Bailey said. The Reds (87-57) scored both of their runs on
outs while moving 30 games over .500 for the first time since they were 96-66 on
Oct. 3, 1999. They widened their lead in the NL Central over second-place St.
Louis to 11 1/2 games. Manager Dusty Baker doesnt want to stop there. “This was
our fifth try at 30,” he said. “We finally reached it. Now lets set the next
goal for 35.” Cincinnatis win and the Cardinals 3-2 loss at San Diego cut to
eight the Reds magic number for clinching the division. Any combination of Reds
wins and Cardinals losses adding up to eight clinches the title for Cincinnati.
Bailey (11-9) allowed six hits and one run with two walks and four strikeouts to
extend his career high in victories. Sam LeCure pitched a perfect eighth and
rookie J.J. Hoover allowed a two-out hit before striking out pinch-hitter
Jose Tabata to complete his first career save. “It was awesome,” said Hoover,
one of the relievers filling in as closer while Aroldis Chapman deals with a
tired shoulder. “It was a good adrenaline rush.” Hoover is a Pittsburgh-area
native, but he didnt attach any extra significance to reaching the milestone
against his hometown team. “It was fun, but I didnt look at it like that,” he
said. Pittsburgh starter A.J. Burnett suffered his first loss in four decisions
against the Reds this season, two in games started by Bailey. Burnett (15-7),
0-3 in five starts since beating Los Angeles on Aug. 16, allowed five hits and
two runs with two walks and eight strikeouts. “It was a well-pitched game on
Homers side,” Burnett said. “You have to tip your hat.” The score was tied 1-all
when Ryan Ludwick led off Cincinnatis sixth with a double down the left-field
line. He tagged and went to third on Jay Bruces fly ball to deep centre field
then tagged and scored on Scott Rolens sacrifice fly down the left-field line.
The Reds cashed in a bit of good fortune to take a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Ryan Hanigan led off with a lined single to centre field and moved to second one
out later on Brandon Phillips bouncer up the middle. Both runners moved up on
Burnetts wild pitch, and Hanigan scored on Wilson Valdezs chopper to second.
Baker was impressed with some execution from his team that he wasnt seeing
earlier in the season. “Youve got to do those things if youre going to win close
ballgames,” he said. “(The Pirates) were doing it earlier this season. Its nice
to get the sweep and get one step closer.” The Pirates tied it in the fourth on
singles by Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones and Gaby Sanchez to lead off the
inning before leaving the bases loaded when Bailey struck out Burnett. They
missed another scoring opportunity in the sixth when Alex Presley tripled down
the right-field line with one out and was caught stealing home when Clint Barmes
couldnt get his bat on a suicide squeeze attempt. Baker and bench coach Chris
Speier smelled it and ordered a pitchout, which also turned into a disaster when
Baileys foot slipped on the mound and the high-and-away pitch suddenly was
low-and-away, but Ryan Hanigan still caught it in time to block the plate. “All
the credit goes to Dusty and Speier,” Bailey said. “Hanigan did a great job. He
ended up with chalk and dirt all over his face.” Barmes did what he could to get
his bat on the pitch. “It looked like it may have been way outside,” he said. “I
still almost got a piece of it.” Those are the kinds of plays that havent gone
the Pirates way during their now season-worst six-game losing streak, which has
left manager Clint Hurdle willing to look anywhere for a spark “We tried to
scratch out a run,” Hurdle said. “It was a good call by them.” Notes: 3B
Pedro Alvarez was scratched from Pittsburghs original starting lineup less than
an hour before the first pitch with what a spokesman called “right wrist
discomfort.” There was no definitive word before the game on when Alvarez
suffered the injury or how long he might be out. ... 2B Neil Walker took batting
practice Tuesday, but he still missed his 15th straight game with lower back
tightness on Wednesday. He had no baseball-related activities planned for
Wednesday or Thursday, manager Clint Hurdle said. “Well see how he is on
Friday,” Hurdle said. ... Thursdays day off is the last on Pittsburghs schedule.
The Pirates are scheduled to finish with 20 games in 20 days. Dwayne Allen Jersey . Igor Larionov  agent
to Yakupov as well as projected top-10 pick Alex Galchenyuk  sees the consensus
number-one pick being a key component to the Oilers moving forward, should they
take him. Vick Ballard Jersey . The right-hander looks
to build off his third career shutout this evening when the Toronto Blue Jays
begin a three-game series against the hosting Texas Rangers. http://www.nflcoltsfans.com/cory-redding-jersey
. Texas manager Ron Washington is hoping his pitchers performance on Sunday
means good things are ahead for his team. Lewis allowed four hits in eight-plus
innings and drove in two runs, and the Rangers took a five-run lead in the first
inning before coasting to a 6-1 win over the Houston Astros. Donnie Avery Youth Jersey . The South African
hasnt slept much after flying to Malaysia following his loss to Bubba Watson on
the second playoff hole at Augusta on Sunday. But he is determined to keep
playing well in a tournament co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours. T.Y.
Hilton Youth Jersey . —Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan
says injured receiver Pierre Garcon is a “long shot” to play against the New
York Giants on Sunday. MINNEAPOLIS —Playing all 48 minutes of Golden States
third game in three nights, Charles Jenkins did his best to show everyone the
Warriors are not tanking to sew up their draft position. With no first-round
pick this summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves have no reason to dump games. But
it sure feels like they are to J.J. Barea, who blistered some of his teammates
for not caring enough. Jenkins had 24 points and nine assists to rally the
Warriors from a 21-point deficit to beat the Timberwolves, 93-88, on Sunday
night. “Hes a tough New York City kid,” said Warriors coach Mark Jackson, a Big
Apple point guard himself back in the day. “A tough, hard-nosed kid who has no
quit. Totally competes, gets after it. He was banged up, bruised up, battered
up, but found a way to gut out a big-time performance.” Brandon Rush scored 10
of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and also grabbed nine rebounds.
Klay Thompson scored 17 points for the Warriors, who snapped an eight-game
losing streak. The performance may have hurt the Warriors (23-41) in the long
run. Utah holds their pick this year as part of a previous trade, and the only
way the Warriors keep it is if they finish in the bottom seven of the league
after the draft lottery. Golden State is in eighth with two games to play.
Nikola Pekovic had 19 points and 16 rebounds, and Barea had 14 points and 12
assists in all 48 minutes for the Timberwolves, who announced earlier that
All-Star power forward Kevin Love would not play the final two games of the
season because of a concussion. You couldve put together a nice All-Star team
with the players who didnt play in this one: Steph Curry (right ankle),
Andrew Bogut (left ankle), David Lee (groin), Andris Biedrins (concussion),
Dorell Wright (right ankle) and Nate Robinson (right hamstring) were out for the
Warriors; and Love, Ricky Rubio (left knee) and Luke Ridnour (right ankle) were
out for the Wolves. Being short-handed didnt keep Barea from blasting his
teammates after the game. “Weve got problems here,” said Barea, who shot 5 of
18. “Weve got a lot of guys that dont care. ... Were just going to keep getting
Ls until we get players here that care, that care abouut winning, care about the
team and care about the fans. Donald Brown Jersey. ” Barea didnt name
anyone specifically, but several objected. “Until you point those guys out one
by one, it doesnt really matter,” said forward Michael Beasley, who scored eight
points on 3-for-11 shooting and had nine rebounds. “That was a collective loss.”
Martell Webster scored 18 points and Anthony Randolph had 14 points, seven
boards and five blocks for Minnesota. With Barea pushing the tempo in the open
floor and Pekovic controlling the paint, the Timberwolves surged out to a 53-32
lead late in the second quarter. Just like in their previous meeting in this
building, when the Warriors came back from 20 down to beat the Wolves on April
4, Jenkins got rolling in the second half to bring Golden State back. The
super-quick point guard had his way with Barea, scoring three straight buckets
during a 10-0 run that cut the deficit to 68-63 late in the third quarter. The
Warriors then ripped off a 12-2 surge midway through the fourth quarter,
culminating in a jumper from Jenkins to give them their first lead, 83-81, with
5:45 to play. “Coach kept telling me to stay aggressive,” Jenkins said. “The
more the shots started to fall, the more confident I got in taking them.
Everything just worked out.” Pekovics putback gave Minnesota an 88-87 lead with
1:28 to go, but Rush came back with a 3, and Dominic McGuire converted a
three-point play when he was fouled on a dunk to seal the win. “Theres some guys
in here that have been more worried about other things,” Wolves forward
Anthony Tolliver said. “Its not that they dont want to win, its just sometimes
the team concept goes out the window. Whenever youre struggling a lot of times
people want to blame somebody else, but the biggest thing is people have to look
in the mirror, plain and simple. “The hardest thing to do is to say, My fault.
Its on me. Its real easy to say You shouldve done (this) or you shouldve done
that.” NOTES: The Wolves made all 21 of their foul shots. ... McGuire finished
with 12 points and seven boards. ... The Timberwolves hosted Rochester resident
Igor Voykovinsky, who at 7-foot-8 is the tallest man in America. ’ ’ ’