[Stardust]

The Reds fell to the Washington Nationals in extra innings for the second straight day. Jayson Werth’s bases-loaded single through the drawn-in infield lifted the Nationals to a 2-1 victory in 13 innings at Nationals Park.

Closer Sean Marshall, the only fresh pitcher left in the bullpen, came on to pitch the 13th. He got the first hitter. Danny Espinosa reached on a broken-bat, infield single. Marshall then walked Ryan Zimmermann and Adam LaRoche to load the bases.

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Werth hit a 1-2 pitch past shortstop Zack Cozart to win it.

It was a game the Reds should have won in regulation.

“That was a tough one right there,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “The guys pitched well, battled hard. We didn’t get a lot of hits. We had few opportunities.”

Bronson Arroyo pitched 7 1/3 innings of three-hit, shutout ball. Two pitches after he was lifted, his work was ruined.

Bill Bray gave up a pinch-hit home run to Xavier Nady to tie the game at 1. Nady hit a towering shot toward the Reds’ bullpen in left. Ryan Ludwick appeared to have a play. But the ball went off his glove and over the fence.

“He had a bead on it pretty good,” Baker said. “I couldn’t tell if it went off his glove or the top of the fence. It looked like it went through the fence. That was a tough break, especially the way Bronson pitched.”

With Arroyo still in the game, the Nationals announced Chad Tracy as the pinch-hitter, but they sent up Nady instead after Bray was brought in.

“We anticipated the move,” Baker said. “We knew they’d hit Nady. We just didn’t anticipate the outcome.”

Baker went with Bray because Aroldis Chapman pitched two innings on Wednesday.

“We were trying to stay away from Chapman,” Baker said. “We’re hoping we’d get through that eighth and get to Marshall in the ninth. It just didn’t work. Bronson did hit job. That was enough for him. He pitched great. We just came up short.”

Arroyo had no problem with being lifted.

“We talked about it the inning before,” Arroyo said. “I wasn’t even real strong at the beginning of the game. My pitch count was real high. But basically they needed me to get righty out. They wanted to get a matchup there. It worked out in their favor, but that’s the way we’ve got to play it.”

The Reds only managed five hits on the night. They are hitting .204 as a team. They went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. That dropped them to .125 in such situations on the year.

“It’s not at a worrisome point,” Baker said. “You don’t like it. The guys don’t like it. We’re a long ways from worrisome about it.”

After Bray gave up the home run, Logan Ondrusek took over and got out of the eighth. Ondrusek pitched the ninth as well. He escaped a two-out, first-and-second jam.

The Reds turned to Chapman to pitch the 10th. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

With the bullpen short after pitching nine innings in the previous two games, the Reds turned to Alfredo Simon, Thursday’s losing pitcher, to pitch the 11th. He got through it routinely and escaped a jam in the 12th.

Arroyo walked one and struck out and four. He threw 94 pitches, 68 strikes.

It was a 0-0 game until the fourth.

Willie Harris drove one into the left-center field gap for a double. It was Harris’ first hit as a Red. He entered the at-bat 0-for-10. Ryan Hanigan got Harris to third with a groundout to short.

Arroyo hit one to deep center for a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. It stayed like that until the eighth.

The Reds are back at it Saturday.

“We have no choice (but to bounce back),” Baker said. “You can either tuck your head and cry about what’s happening or you tighten your belt and get tougher. Those are the choices you have.”http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120...|text|Reds

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[LWC]

Bronson actually pitched well. He usually eats at least 7 innings and either has a shut-out or 5-6 earned runs. You never know with him, but you always get the innings.

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Did you Bronson's face in the dugout when relief gave up his shutout on the HR?

[LWC]

I didn't get to watch it. I bet it was priceless!

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it was "you have to be F'n kidding me!"

[LWC]

^Oh my. I wonder if it got back to the rest of the team, lol.

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I'm sure it will, lol, nothing is hidden anymore