The Natural homers; Reds continue spoiler role

Last night the Cincinnati Reds continued to play the spoiler role with a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves. The big moments of the night occurred when leadoff hitter Josh Hamilton got busted inside with a fastball by Braves starting pitcher Lance Cormier. Hamilton took mostly a defensive swat at the inside pitch, and it landed in the centerfield fake turf for a homerun. The following batter, Jeff Keppinger hit his 3rd big league homerun with a drive to left field.

Bronson Arroyo was solid as can be in this outing. He went 5 1/3 innings allowing 2 earned runs on 6 hits, striking out 5. He also added a single that scored a pivotal run in the 5th inning that would hold up the lead for good for the Reds.

David Weathers picked up his 27th save of the season in style. Featured on baseball tonight, Weathers was shown painting the outside corner to Braves slugger Mark Teixera with the tying run on 2nd base and 2 out, 3 times to strikeout ‘Tex’. The final pitch came with a full count and Teixera had words with homeplate umpire Brian Gorman.

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