jditty47 Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Reds celebrate Valentin's dayCatcher hits two home runs, drives in seven in winBy Anthony Castrovince / MLB.comMLB Headlines • Tribe's Hafner 'dodged a bullet' • Seven ejected in bench-clearing scuffle • Reds celebrate Valentin's day • Pedro, Mets rain on Braves' parade • Devil Rays rally in ninth to win • Royals overcome fracas, split series • Mets notes: Cameron listens to his bats • Cubs notes: Maddux nears rare feat • More MLB Headlines ADVERTISEMENT print this page | e-mail this pageCINCINNATI -- There's little glory to being a backup catcher. Unless you're Javier Valentin. The stocky Puerto Rican went off against the Rockies on Sunday, cranking out a grand slam in the sixth inning and a three-run homer in the eighth to lead the Reds to a 9-4 win and a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park. The seven RBIs were a career high for Valentin, who became the first Reds player to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game since Pete Rose did so on Aug. 2, 1967, against the Braves. Through five innings, the Reds let Jamey Wright plow through their lineup with ease, and the run Ramon Ortiz allowed on Todd Helton's RBI single in the third held up for a while. That all changed in the sixth. Sean Casey got a two-out rally going with a solo home run -- his first at home this season -- and Ken Griffey Jr. followed with a solo shot of his own to make it 2-1. The Reds then loaded the bases for Valentin, who cranked Wright's first-pitch offering high into the right-field seats for his first career grand slam to extend the lead to 6-1. Ortiz let the Rockies back in it by giving up a solo homer to JD Closser and a two-run shot to Cory Sullivan before leaving in the seventh. But Valentin put it away for good in the eighth, when he took Brian Fuentes deep for a three-run shot from the right side of the plate. Valentine became the first Reds player to post seven RBIs in a game since Robin Jennings did so on Aug. 31, 2001, against the Pirates.btw no im not being optimistic, just showing something good that happened to the reds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson85 Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Cool, now If they could just bottle up all this good play and do it for the rest of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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