Reds Can See the Sunny Side After 2-1 Win : NL playoffs: This time, it’s Cincinnati that benefits from a misplayed fly ball. Series with the Pirates is tied, 1-1.

As countless baseball players from eliminated teams were heartened to learn Friday, there are worse places to be this month than on the farm or in front of a television set.

They could be in left field at Riverfront Stadium.

For a second consecutive National League championship series game, that innocent-looking patch of artificial turf has sullied the reputation of an All-Star outfielder. This time it was Pittsburgh’s Barry Bonds, who lost a fly ball in the sun in the fifth inning of a tie game, turning Paul O’Neill’s out into a run-scoring double that gave the Cincinnati Reds a 2-1 victory over the Pirates.

Before 54,456, the Reds tied the series at one game apiece, thanks to good relief pitching from Rob Dibble and Randy Myers, memorable defense by O’Neill and Barry Larkin and a mid-afternoon starting time.

CBS, which is televising the playoffs, had wanted this game to begin at 3:20 p.m. here instead of the usual 8:30 p.m.

“Whoever decided that does not know a thing about this stadium,” said Herm Winningham, Reds’ outfielder. “The sun is terrible during that time. You just hope you can see fly balls. It was an unbelievable decision.”

For most of Friday’s game, the sun was directly in the eyes of the left and center fielders. When O’Neill lofted a two-out fly to Bonds with Winningham on second base in the fifth inning, Bonds was blinded.

“I never saw the ball after it came off the bat,” Bonds said. “I kept waiting for it to come out of the sun, but it never came out. I put down my sunglasses and it was still in the sun.”

Bonds ran hesitantly toward the wall, staring helplessly into the sky, when suddenly the ball dropped out of his reach and against the wall. Winningham, running because there were two out, scored easily.

“The sun was so bad and so directly in your eyes it seemed to expand the whole field,” Bonds said. “It’s ridiculous when you have to play in that kind of situation.”

Bonds’ misplay followed that of the Reds’ Eric Davis, who had problems of his own in Game 1. Davis allowed the go-ahead run to score when he misjudged a fly ball in left field and turned it into an RBI double in the Pirates’ 4-3 victory. In each case, both the batter and pitcher were left-handed and the ball was sliced.

“Who would believe it?” asked Pirate outfielder Andy Van Slyke. “Two great players, two fly balls that could have been caught, two doubles. What a strange game.”

For the Reds, who defeated Pirate ace Doug Drabek the day after the Pirates had beaten Cincinnati ace Jose Rijo, it was an inspirational game.

Their starting pitcher, Tom Browning, was so shaky he gave up six hits and three walks through six innings. After that, the Reds played like a team that lost only six of 80 games this season when leading after six innings.

Then, there was what will be remembered here as simply “The Throw.”

After Van Slyke and Bobby Bonilla had begun the sixth inning against the tiring Browning with singles, Bonds hit a line drive to O’Neill in right field. Van Slyke tagged at second base.

“I thought--and I was actually thinking this while I was running--that I would soon be on third base with one out and could tie the game easily,” Van Slyke said.

O’Neill said he didn’t think. He simply grabbed the ball, cocked his left arm and threw to third.

“It’s a play you work on over and over again in the minor leagues,” O’Neill said. “I just got it and reacted.”

He was faster than Van Slyke, it turned out.

“I saw our third base coach (Gene Lamont) yelling at me to slide and I thought, ‘Uh-oh,’ ” Van Slyke said. “Then I heard the ball whizzing by my head and I said, ‘Uh-oh,’ again. Then I heard the umpire ring me up and I said, ‘Uh-oh,’ again.

“That’s three uh-ohs, two outs and we were in trouble.”

When Chris Sabo made the tag and third base umpire Jerry Crawford called Van Slyke out, the crowd leaped to its feet and O’Neill pumped his fist.

The Pirates never threatened again.

“I would take that chance again, because it had to be a perfect throw,” Van Slyke said. “It was a perfect throw. I think it hit the base, it was so perfect.”

O’Neill has two outfield assists in this series, one fewer than the NL championship series record. He also has three hits in seven at-bats

R.J. Reynolds ended the sixth inning by striking out. Dibble took over for Browning in the seventh and retired four of five batters, leaving the game after walking Jay Bell with one out in the eighth inning.

The second half of baseball’s best bullpen duo then took over. Myers retired Van Slyke and Bonilla on fly balls to end the eighth. In the ninth inning he induced two ground-ball outs before walking Mike LaValliere.

With LaValliere on first, Jose Lind, who was one for 15 against Myers, grounded to second, ending the game. That gave Myers the save, not that he didn’t have some help. Shortstop Larkin went behind second base and grabbed consecutive grounders by Bonds and Reynolds to start the ninth.

“I thought I had a hit,” said Bonds, a leading candidate for the league’s most valuable player award, but who has one single in seven at-bats in this series. “But it was just a thought.”

Said Larkin: “If I was him, I would have thought I had a hit, too. I mean, the ball was hit right up the middle.”

With two days off before the best-of-seven series resumes in Pittsburgh Monday, neither team is sure what to think.

Some of the Pirates are pleased that they at least earned a split here and can still win the series with a sweep at home. But after putting the first two runners on base twice in the first three innings Friday and failing to score each time, some are disappointed.

“Before this series started, any of us would have been glad to get out of here with a split,” Van Slyke said. “But the way we blew our chances today, I’m not happy. We could have won this game, and we know it.”

The Reds are thrilled to have won with their strengths--bullpen and defense. But they are concerned about their offense, which managed only five hits against Drabek Friday and 10 hits in two games.

“We need timely hitting and more runners on base,” Manager Lou Piniella said. “But no doubt, we needed this win today.”