Next Time Baker Guesses Again

With a three-run lead in the seventh inning and the stingiest bullpen in the National League ready to take over, the San Francisco Giants liked their chances.

That’s why it was so tough to take when the Cincinnati Reds pulled off a rare comeback Wednesday afternoon at Cincinnati.

Bret Boone’s two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning rallied the slumping Reds to a 7-5 victory that left Manager Dusty Baker second-guessing himself while the Giant bullpen tried to shrug it off.

“Yeah, we let that one get away,” said Baker, who blamed himself in part for the blowup.

Brian Johnson and Barry Bonds hit two-run homers, and the Giants held a 5-2 lead with two out in the seventh and starter Mark Gardner tiring. All they needed were seven more outs to get their first three-game sweep in Cincinnati since 1993.

Things started to change when Baker let Gardner pitch to Reggie Sanders, who has always hit the right-hander hard. He hung a 2-0 pitch and Sanders hit it for a two-run homer, raising his career stats against Gardner to nine for 16 with three homers.

Baker was muttering at himself afterward.

“You know, usually I don’t second-guess myself, but I had [Steve] Reed warming up with Reggie Sanders up,” Baker said. “That’s what let them back in the game.”

The Giants still had their bullpen ready to go against one of the NL’s most feeble offenses. San Francisco’s bullpen led the NL with a 1.99 ERA entering the eighth inning and had given up only 43 runs, the fewest in the league.

The Reds wound up batting around in the eighth inning. Before that, they had only one hit in their last 21 at-bats with runners in scoring position.