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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CINCINNATI (AP) – Elmer Dessens let Cincinnati manager Bob Boone
enjoy a game, for a change.
|  | | Elmer Dessens helped thge Reds end their slide with a career-high nine strikeouts. |
Dessens struck out a career-high nine and Sean Casey hit a
two-run double to lead the Reds over the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2
Saturday night.
"I've forgotten how to relax and play an easy game," said
Boone, whose team had lost four straight and 13 of 16. "It was
nice. I do like that better. Let somebody else sweat for a while."
Dessens (4-2) allowed both runs and four hits in seven innings.
His strikeouts were the most by a Reds pitcher this season.
"He was efficient with his pitches," Boone said. "He came out
throwing his breaking ball well, but I thought he was losing that
toward the end."
Dessens had not lasted seven innings since his first start of
the season.
"I was working my sinker, inside and outside, and I had good
control on my slider," Dessens said through translator Juan
Castro. "I was just trying to keep the hitters off balance."
Dustin Hermanson (5-2), who had won four consecutive starts,
gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings. Two of the runs
were unearned, scoring on the same play because of an error by
first baseman Craig Paquette.
"We didn't make the plays behind him, but he wasn't making the
pitches he has been," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.
Cincinnati went ahead in the first after Deion Sanders walked
and was picked off. Sanders went 0-for-3, dropping his average to
.149 (7-for-47).
Ruben Rivera hit an RBI single later in the inning and, after
Paquette misplayed a throw by second baseman Fernando Vina for an
error, Alex Ochoa and Rivera scored for a 3-0 lead.
"It hit the dirt the same time it hit my glove and bounced
straight up," Paquette said. "I had no idea where it was."
Dessens escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second by striking out
Hermanson, but Albert Pujols hit a sacrifice fly in the third.
Cincinnati made it 6-1 in the bottom half on Casey's two-run
double and Bill Selby's RBI double.
Jim Edmonds homered in the fourth, making it 16 consecutive
games in which the Reds allowed home runs.
"There was a lot of game left when the score was 6-2," La
Russa said.
But St. Louis had just three hits after that, all singles, and
only run runner reached second.
Paquette threw away a bunt by Dessens in the sixth, and Castro
scored as the ball bounced down the left-field line.
Game notes
The crowd of 34,158 was the second-largest of the season at
Cincinnati, second only to the Opening-Day sellout (41,901). ...
The Reds' previous record for consecutive games allowing home runs
was 13 in 1955. ... J.D. Drew, who leads the Cardinals with 17
homers, was 1-for-4, a night after missing a game because of a
stiff neck. ... The Cardinals are on their longest road trip of the
season, 12 games in 13 days. ... Cincinnati's Jason LaRue batted
second for the first time in his career and went 1-for-3 with a
walk and two runs. He had never batted higher than sixth. ... LHR
Dennys Reyes had an MRI on his left elbow. The results showed no
problem, and Reyes is available to pitch.
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OTHER GAMES
Baseball Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Cincinnati Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 12
Cleveland 5
Texas 0
Baltimore 0
Oakland 5
Minnesota 4
Minnesota 7
Oakland 6
(2nd game)
Anaheim 10
Tampa Bay 4
Toronto 5
Boston 0
Chi. White Sox 8
Detroit 0
Seattle 7
Kansas City 2
Florida 7
NY Mets 3
Milwaukee 0
Chicago Cubs 0
Colorado 10
San Francisco 4
Atlanta 9
Pittsburgh 3
Cincinnati 7
St. Louis 2
Montreal 0
Philadelphia 0
Arizona 3
San Diego 1
Los Angeles 7
Houston 2
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