Eric Davis Misjudges Fly Ball, and Reds Drop the Opener, 4-3 : NL playoffs: Van Slyke’s drive goes over left fielder’s head, allowing the Pirates to score the decisive run.

Eric Davis has spent much of the last seven summers in the Riverfront Stadium outfield. He knows the walls and corners and warning track like a homeowner knows which doors creak.

So it was quite a surprise Thursday night when, in the seventh inning of a tie game in the opener of the National League championship series, the Reds’ left fielder misplayed a drive to left by Pittsburgh’s Andy Van Slyke, turning it into an RBI ground-rule double that gave the Pirates a 4-3 victory over Cincinnati.

“I misjudged it,” Davis said quietly afterward. “I was playing shallow and the ball was hit harder than I thought and I just misjudged it.”

From the emptiness in Davis’ voice and stare, he has not misjudged what this loss has done to the Reds. Even though they trail only one game to none in this best-of-seven series, their championship hopes could be in jeopardy.

Before 52,911 at Riverfront Stadium, they scored three runs in the first inning, then blew the lead with their best pitcher, Jose Rijo, on the mound. Then they lost the game because of their best defensive player, a three-time defending Gold Glove winner.

As if that wasn’t enough, the game ended because the Reds could not score in the ninth inning even though their first two runners reached base.

With Todd Benzinger on second and Davis on first, Ron Oester bunted but forced Benzinger at third, pinch-runner Billy Bates was thrown out on the back end of a double steal attempt and Chris Sabo was struck out by Ted Power to end the game .

“When we were down 3-0, with Rijo pitching, I really thought we didn’t have much of a chance,” Van Slyke said. “I don’t think anybody in the stadium thought we had much of a chance.

“But this is something we have been doing all year. Somewhere, somehow, we believe we can pull it out.”

Even in unbelievable fashion, which is what happened after an RBI triple by Jose Lind in the third inning and Sid Bream’s two-run homer in the fourth inning tied the score, 3-3. The Pirates might have known something good was going to happen, since they were 15-0 during the regular season when Bream homered.

With one out in the seventh, Gary Redus, batting for winning pitcher Bob Walk, hit a one-out single up the middle against reliever Norm Charlton.

With Jeff King batting, Redus stole second. After King flied out, Charlton pitched around Jay Bell, walking him to bring up Van Slyke, who was hitless in three at-bats with two strikeouts.

The Reds’ coaches instructed Davis to play Van Slyke shallow. So Davis moved in.

“I understood it, with a quick runner on second,” Davis said. “It was a good move.”

On the second pitch, Van Slyke hit a fly ball to left, and everyone assumed the inning was over.

“We all turned to grab our gloves and go back to the field,” Barry Bonds said.

“Just a fly ball,” Charlton said.

Everyone in the stadium apparently knew where it was. Except Davis.

“I rounded first and saw him backpedaling and I thought, ‘Man, maybe he’s in trouble,’ ” Van Slyke said. “As an outfielder, you are taught never to backpedal.”

Said Davis: “After my third step, I knew I was in trouble.”

He ran back, back . . . then realized that he could not get back far enough. All he could do was turn and watch the ball bounce on the warning track and over the fence, scoring Redus.

“When I was on second base, I heard them calling him to move in,” Redus said of Davis. “I guess that move kind of backfired.”

Davis showed no reaction after the play, simply patting his glove and returning to his position. In deeper left field.

“What did you want me to do, stand there and rub my head on my shoulder?” Davis asked. “Ten times out of 10, I catch that ball. One hundred times out of 100, I catch that. Just tonight, I misjudged it.”

He has played fewer games in left field this season, 55, than center field, 66. But he would not use that as an excuse.

Said Van Slyke: “A slicing ball by a left-handed hitter off a left-handed pitcher to left field, coming right at the fielder--that’s the hardest play in baseball, if you ask me.”

But Davis would also not use that as an excuse.

“I misjudged the ball--that’s what you can write,” he pleaded. “Nothing else, none of those other things. If I make that catch, nobody asks me about those other things.”

Davis properly noted that the ninth-inning throw to second base by Pirate catcher Mike LaValliere might have been nearly as important.

With Davis on second and pinch-runner Bates on first and one out, Davis knew he had to get to third before Sabo took any swings. That way, a fly ball could tie the game.

But the Pirates, who had a conference with just-entered reliever Power, knew it too.

“On the mound I told Jim (Leyland, Pirate manager) that if Davis got a good jump going to third, I was going to throw to second base,” LaValliere said. “It’s something you don’t do very often, but sometimes you don’t have a choice.

“When Power lifted his leg to go into his windup and I saw Eric take off, I had to throw to second.”

The gamble paid off. Davis reached third, but it didn’t much matter because Bates was thrown out at second. And Davis was stranded on third by Sabo’s game-ending strikeout.

“The most important play of the game for them,” Davis said.

Although in an odd way, the Pirates’ true hero may have been Walk. By the time he had thrown his first 18 pitches, the Pirates trailed, 3-0.

“I thought this thing was going to be a nightmare,” he said.

The first Red batter, Barry Larkin, walked on five pitches. Billy Hatcher laid a perfect bunt down the first-base line, then Hal Morris singled to left, scoring Larkin.

Davis then lined a ball into the right-field corner. Morris scored and Bobby Bonilla bobbled the ball, allowing Davis to take third. Paul O’Neill then doubled to right-center, scoring Davis.

The Reds had won 39 of 52 games this season when they scored in the first inning. Leyland came to the mound, there were relievers working in the bullpen, and Walk was stunned.

“I thought, ‘Here I am, not even going to get out of the first inning,’ ” Walk said. “In the first game of the playoffs, on national television even. Oh man.”

But Walk gave up only one hit and allowed two baserunners over the next five innings to earn the win.

“I’ve been through this before. I knew if I could get through the first inning, I would be OK,” Walk said. “I always win ugly.”

The Reds can only hope they don’t always lose this ugly, although today at 12:18 p.m. PDT, it could get worse. Doug Drabek, the favorite to win the Cy Young Award, pitches for the Pirates against struggling Tom Browning.

“We’re still OK,” Davis said. “It’s not a two-game series, is it?”