‘37 Reds take 2 of 3 from ‘98 Spos

9/17-9/18 - Crosley Field
GAME 1 - Reds 4, Expos 1
Paul Derringer (3-4, 4.36) easily tamed the toothless Expo offense that managed just 2 hits.  #'s 4 and 5 hitters, Vlad Guerrero and Shane Andrews fanned a combined 5 times.  Dustin Hermanson (0-3, 5.06) had another poor outing as the Expos fell further out of contention and Cincy moved closer to keeping pace with the Padres.  Cincy posted 12 hits with Kiki Cuyler being the only regular not to hit his way on base. The top of Cincy's order was on base early and often.  Lead off man Les Scarsella was 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and #2 guy Ival Goodman was 5 for 3.

GAME 2 - Expos 3, Reds 1 (10 inn)
Mike Thurman and Peaches Davis locked up in a classic pitcher's duel that saw the Reds carry a 1-0 lead into the top of the 9th when Vlad Guerrero led off the inning with a triple.  Rondel White's grounder to short would score Vlad to tie the game, which would eventually go to extra innings.  Expo reliever Miguel Batista led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk off of reliever Paul Gehrman.  Mark Grudzielankek would successfully bunt Batista over to second where he looked to be stranded after Cabrera made the 2nd out of the inning.  By this point Johnnny "Double-No-Hit" Vander Meer was on the mound for Cincy in hopes of getting the final out of the inning in the form of Montreal's lone threat Vlad Guerrero.  Vander Meer worked Vlad to perfection by getting him to chase a curve in the dirt for strike 3.  Unfortunately for the Reds the ball bounced away from backup catcher Spud Davis and Vlad was able to bust it up the line to put runners on the corners.  Vlad would then take second on catchers indifference which setup the turning point of the game.  Rondel White lined an 0-2 changeup into left center to score both Batista and Vlad to give the Expos a 3-1 lead.  Batista would start the bottom of the 10th, but was on a very tight leash.  Once he walked Cuyler and allowed Cuyler to steal second the hook came fast and Ugueth Urbina was summoned to get the save.  Urbina quickly dispatched of Lew Riggs by causing the Red third sacker to fly out to shallow center.  Next up was pinch hitter Chick Haffey who followed suit and flew out to center as well.  The final out came when Buck Jordan fanned on three straight pitches as Urbina notched his league leading 10th save.

9/19 - Olympic Stadium
GAME 3 - Reds 2, Expos 0
Al Hollingsworth went 7 2/3 innings without allowing a run before he tired and was replace by Jake Mooty who closed the door on the offensively anemic Expos.  Cincy would score their two runs in the first 2 innings before Carlos Perez, who took his first loss of the season (6-1, 2.22), settled down.  Ival Goodman tripled with 1 out in the first then scored on a wild pitch.  In the second Goodman doubled home Hollingsworth, who reached base thanks to an error by Expo secondbaseman Wilton Guerrero.  Neither team score in the final 7 frames.  Montreal's only scoring opportunity came in the third when they had runners on the corners and Shane Andrews flew out to center to end the inning.  Montreal did get their first two hitters on to lead off the 9th, but Mooty shut the door by getting Henley to line out to right and fanning Seguignol and Cabrera to end it in style.