Giants 6

**Stardust** · 04-27-2012, 03:37 AM

The Reds were two outs away from the a sweep, two outs away from getting over .500, two outs away from feeling pretty darn good about themselves.

Then Sean Marshall hung a curveball to Angel Pagan. Pagan sent it on a high arc out to left field for a three-run home run. A little later, the Reds were still trying to digest a 6-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants. The crowd of 17,317 at Great American Ball Park was stunned by the quick turn of events.

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Same was true for crowd in the clubhouse.

"You get you're going to get (losses like this)," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "But it's hard to think about or talk about. . . It's tough to take. Marshall feels terrible. We all feel terrible."

It was Marshall's first blown save in five chances for the Reds. The home run allowed equalled his total for the 2011 season.

Marshall quickly got in trouble in the ninth. He walked Joaquin Arias to start the inning. Ryan Theroit hit one through the hole on the left side. Marshall got an out, then gave it up to Pagan.

"That leadoff walk hurt, the seeing-eye ground ball to Theriot," Marshall said. "It was a battle from there."

Marshall struck out pinch-hitter Brett Pill. He got ahead of Pagan 0-2. The next pitch was a fastball. Replays indicated it was a strike. Home plate umpire Tim Welke called it a ball.

"It was borderline," Marshall said. "It was close. The next pitch was one that mattered. I definitely missed my spot on that one. It hung in the middle of the plate."

Marshall was fine with throwing the curveball.

"It's been a good pitch," Marshall said. "It's a pitch I rely on. I wanted to throw a strike up there to give myself a chance to get of the inning with one pitch. I hung that curveball. He put a good swing on it. I got him out with it last night. Maybe he was little more defensive to try to hit it. It's a tough break. We'll get them tomorrow."

The loss was the toughest of the year for the Reds.

"It's happen before," Marshall said. "It's tough when it happens. You try to show how resilient you are and bounce back. We've got a lot of ballgames left. I know I'm going to be pitching in a lot ballgames. When you have a tough one, you look forward to tomorrow and don't worry about what happened today. Adjust and get better.

Marshall would like another chance to close tonight.

"I'd like a chance at redemption for sure," he said. "Last night's game was real fun. I came in and had a quick inning and got the boys a win. Today's a little tough. We'll see what we can do and improve on making better quality pitches when it counts at the end of the ball game."

Before Pagan's big hit, it was shaping up as a very nice day for the Reds.

"Our guys battled," Baker said. "But it's tough to think about what happened in the game before. That's baseball."

They opened a 2-0 lead in the second. Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce led off with back-to-back singles. An out later, Todd Frazier walked to load the bases.

Devin Mesoraco got in a run with a rocket to deep center for a sac fly. Homer Bailey made it 2-0 with a single to right -- his first hit of the year.

The Giants tied it with two in the fourth. A botch double play led to one of the runs.

The Reds took the lead back in the sixth. Phillips led off with an infield single. Bruce followed with high drive to right-center. From the way he left the batter's box, it didn't look like he thought he got it. But it just cleared the wall in front of the smokestacks. It was his fourth of the year.

Homer Bailey went 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He walked two and struck out six. It was his third straight quality start. Bailey was not completely happy with the outing.

"Yes and no," he said. "I really feel like I should have put up a zero that last inning."

He's referring to the seventh. The Giants cut the lead to 4-3. Arias led off with a double. Theriot singled. Pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco got Arias in with a sac fly.

Bailey was lifted after allowing a single to Pagan. Logan Ondrusek came out and got Melky Cabrera to pop out and Sandoval to ground out.

The Reds added a run in the seventh on Scott Rolen's second home run in as many days.

Ondrusek pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. That set up the disappointing ninth.

"You're so happy one day," Baker said. "And so frustrated and unhappy the next day."
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120...Giants-6-5