NewsArroyo delivers as Reds rock Citi Field
Right-hander shuts down Mets behind pair of solo shots
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com
07/10/09 10:49 PM ET
NEW YORK -- After Bronson Arroyo struggled and plodded through his previous five starts, Friday's meeting with the Mets was like giving water to someone who's been wandering the Mojave Desert for weeks. Arroyo breezed his way to a four-hitter and a 3-0 shutout of the Mets during the Reds' first visit to Citi Field. That was equally refreshing for a Cincinnati team that dropped three of four games during a painful series at Philadelphia and lost five of the previous six games. "He threw his butt off today and attacked the strike zone," said first baseman Joey Votto, who drove in the game's first run with a fourth-inning solo blast. "He looked like he was in total control." That he was -- all four of Arroyo's hits allowed were singles, and only one was solidly hit. The right-hander did not walk a batter and struck out five. No Mets batter reached second base all night. Of the 31 batters Arroyo faced with his 115 pitches, 15 were retired with ground balls. "He was dealing tonight," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "He had his sinker working and you saw the number of ground balls he threw up. That's most ground balls I've seen him throw in a while. It's kind of weird. You've got a big old ballpark like this, and he's throwing ground balls. We'll take it." "Up and down, in and out, changing speeds -- he kept us off balance all night," said Mets third baseman David Wright, whose team has lost six of seven and 11 of 14. "He can throw any pitch in any count and feeds off hitters' weaknesses." Wright was the lone major offensive threat in the Mets' lineup, which is without key hitters Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran due to injuries. That obviously didn't bother Arroyo one bit. "Obviously, having a watered-down lineup helped quite a bit," Arroyo said. "If anybody says they want to see those guys in the lineup instead of someone else, they're crazy." It was perfect way for Arroyo to head into the All-Star break. In his five previous starts since June 13, Arroyo was 1-4 with an 8.41 ERA. In 18 starts, Arroyo is 9-8 with a 5.38 ERA. Not exactly glamorous numbers, but he'll take them. "I've been struggling coming down the stretch here," Arroyo said. "I got my ninth win, which tied my career high for the first half of the season. Even though my ERA is inflated, it's a good opportunity for me to kind of focus and feel like I have something going for me in the second half to keep this team in the race." Arroyo retired 15 of his first 16 batters in the game, with Mets starter Fernando Nieve's bloop single in the third inning accounting for the first hit by the hosts. Argenis Reyes bunted for a single to lead off the Mets' sixth. David Murphy lined a hard single in the seventh and hit a flare with two outs in the ninth. "My changeup was working good," Arroyo said. "I was throwing a hard changeup. It was kind of diving down. I had a lot of three-ball counts they let me back into by swinging the bat and hitting ground balls on 3-1 and 3-2. That was pretty much the key to the game." In the top of the fourth inning, Votto led off with an opposite-field home run to left off Nieve (3-3), which extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games. "I hit it really well and put some height on it," Votto said. "To be honest, I almost tripped over first base wondering whether or not it would get out of the ballpark. I've heard so many things about this park. When I hit it, I thought it had a chance to go, and then I realized where I was hitting. Then it got out." Brandon Phillips followed with a double to left field and advanced to third base on a Nieve wild pitch. Phillips was caught off third base on a broken bunt play, but was credited with stealing home when he beat Wright's high throw to the plate. With one out in the top of the sixth, Laynce Nix hit a solo homer into the second deck in right field for a three-run lead. The Reds moved back to one game below .500 at 42-43 but remained 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Cardinals. Arroyo hoped a win like Friday's sent the right kind of message. "This is two huge series for us," he said of the final first-half road trip. "This is obviously a point in the season for us where we don't know what management is thinking. If we slide too far from the top, they might want to start getting rid of some guys. We feel like we've got a really young club and have an opportunity to do some stuff around here. We hope we can keep it tight so they don't think about that."Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
