Dbacks hold on to beat Reds 5-4

JOE KAY
AP Baseball Writer

CINCINNATI (AP) — Left-hander Wade Miley didn’t feel all that great. Against the Reds, it didn’t matter.

Miley blanked Cincinnati into the seventh inning, Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer, and the Arizona Diamondbacks held on for a 5-4 victory on Wednesday, taking a series between two teams with struggling offenses.

Goldschmidt’s 19th homer off Alfred Simon (12-6) gave the Diamondbacks two of three in the series. Simon has gone 0-3 since his first All-Star selection. Didi Gregorius added a two-run homer in the ninth.

Two homers in one game?

“That’s something we haven’t been doing a lot lately,” manager Kirk Gibson said.

Neither team had been doing much of anything.

The Reds fell to 2-10 since the All-Star break. Devin Mesoraco’s three-run homer in the ninth off Addison Reed ended a streak of 11 straight games with three runs or fewer, Cincinnati’s longest such stretch of futility since 1967.

Miley (7-7) gave up seven hits and four walks in 6 2-3 innings, improving to 4-1 in his past five starts. He never felt comfortable, but still had enough to keep Cincinnati scoreless in a tight game.

“As a starter, you’ve got to find a way to keep ’em at bay,” Miley said. “If you don’t have any runs, you can’t give them any runs. It was just as struggle today. I was able to make it through it.”

Ryan Ludwick had RBI double in the eighth off Brad Ziegler. Reed came on with two aboard and got the last two outs and gave up Mesoraco’s homer before getting his 26th save in 31 chances.

The series opened with Arizona’s 2-1 win in 15 innings on Monday. The Reds won the second game 3-0, leaving Arizona with a stretch of only one run in 20 innings.

Both teams wasted chances for early rallies throughout the series. The Reds did it again on Wednesday, when Chris Heisey was thrown out at second while trying to stretch a hit with none out in the third. Ramon Santiago was caught trying to steal third later in the inning.

ON DECK

Diamondbacks: Arizona opens a 10-game homestand on Thursday with the first of four games against the Pirates. Josh Collmenter (8-5) goes against LHP Jeff Locke (2-2). … Goldschmidt is 11 for 22 in his past five games against the Pirates and .333 against them in his career.

Reds: Cincinnati plays four games at Miami starting Thursday, with Johnny Cueto (11-6) making his first start against the Marlins since 2012. Tom Koehler (7-7) starts for Miami. … The Reds have won their past five games against the Marlins.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: INF Cliff Pennington, on the DL with a sprained left thumb, is 7 for 12 in three games on a rehab assignment.

Reds: Right-handed reliever Logan Ondrusek, on the 15-day DL with a sore pitching shoulder, threw without a problem for a second straight day. He’s not ready to get back on the mound yet. He went on the DL on July 22. … Slumping CF Billy Hamilton was out of the starting lineup, getting rest. He pinch-hit in the ninth and singled, leaving him 2 for 20.

WAITING, WAITING, WAITING

Both teams were curious about whether their front offices would make a deal with Thursday’s deadline for non-waiver deals approaching. The Diamondbacks have several players who could be attractive to contenders. The Reds were looking to upgrade their lineup. “I think we’re looking to get better,” manager Bryan Price said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. I don’t see us as a team looking to 2015.”

THAT’S A LOT OF NUMBERS

Cincinnati’s Kristopher Negron got caught in an extended rundown between second and third when Ramon Santiago grounded back to Miley in the seventh inning. The putout was scored 1-5-6-4-1-6-4.

No. 1

Gibson’s 337th victory as the Diamondbacks manager ties Bob Melvin for most in franchise history.

STATS

It’s the first time Arizona has won a series at Great American Ball Park since 2011. … The Diamondbacks won their first road series since June 27-29 at San Diego. … Simon struck out two, giving him a career-high 84 for the season. He fanned 83 with Baltimore in 2011, the last time he was a starter.

___

Follow Joe Kay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apjoekay

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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