Clutch Rookie Sends Reds Past the Mets

Even though he’s only a rookie, Gookie Dawkins could guess what he’d see from Armando Benitez.

“I knew he threw hard and I was just sitting on a fastball,” said Dawkins, whose single in the 12th inning Thursday gave the visiting Cincinnati Reds a 2-1 victory over the New York Mets.

“I was just telling myself, ‘Be strong, be comfortable.’ I told myself, ‘I’m a hitter.’ I tried to stay back, keep my balance, not try to do too much,” he said.

Sean Casey led off the 12th with a walk from Benitez (1-2) and moved to second on a sacrifice. After pinch-hitter Hal Morris was walked intentionally, Dawkins slapped an 0-1 pitch to left field.

Dawkins, called up earlier this week from double-A Chattanooga when shortstop Barry Larkin went on the disabled list, was four for 27 in his career before the game-winning hit.

“It’s good to come into New York and take two out of three. Maybe it’s the tonic we needed to get us going,” Red Manager Jack McKeon said.

Danny Graves (3-0) pitched 2 1/3 innings of hitless relief and Scott Sullivan worked the 12th for his first save.

The first seven innings of the game were a pitcher’s duel between the Mets’ Glendon Rusch and the Reds’ Steve Parris, who allowed only a combined nine hits over the first seven innings.

Ken Griffey Jr. gave the Reds a 1-0 lead in the fourth when he hit his sixth homer, a solo shot against Rusch.

“We held the team to one run and that was a well-pitched ballgame. That’s really the story,” said Griffey.

Robin Ventura hit his sixth homer leading off the bottom half of the inning.

“They both were kind of matching each other, staying out of trouble and getting out of it when they had to,” Ventura said.

Both teams missed early scoring chances. The Mets had two runners on with one out in the first, but Ventura grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Parris doubled with two out in the third but Rusch got Pokey Reese on a harmless fly to center.

Parris gave up four hits and three walks in seven innings.

Rusch gave up six hits in 7 2/3 innings, striking out six.

San Diego 12, Pittsburgh 4--Matt Clement won his seventh consecutive decision and Damian Jackson drove in a career-high four runs for the visiting Padres.

John Vander Wal, traded from San Diego to Pittsburgh during spring training, hit his first grand slam in the Pirates’ fifth.

The Padres broke it open with a six-run ninth against Jose Silva, highlighted by Ryan Klesko’s three-run homer.

Clement (3-0), from nearby Butler, Pa., won in his first appearance at Three Rivers Stadium. He left 20-30 tickets for friends and family members.

Jose Parra (0-1) took the loss.

Milwaukee 8, St. Louis 4--Ron Belliard hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the sixth inning as the Brewers avoided a three-game sweep at St. Louis.

The Cardinals homered for the 18th consecutive game, when Eric Davis hit a solo shot to right-center in the seventh, breaking the previous team record of 17 set in 1998.

Mark McGwire hit his seventh homer, a two-run shot in the ninth. The Cardinals have hit 52 homers, a major league record for April and six short of the record for any month, set by Baltimore in May 1987.

Jimmy Haynes (3-1) gave up five hits and three walks in seven innings. Losing pitcher Pat Hentgen (3-2) had two of the hits.

Philadelphia 5, Arizona 4--Bobby Abreu drew a bases-loaded walk from Byung-Hyun Kim (0-1) in the ninth as the Phillies ended a five-game losing streak with a victory at home.

Arizona had beaten the Phillies five consecutive times this season and 10 straight overall.

Wayne Gomes (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth inning.

Rico Brogna went two for four with a homer and two runs batted in for the Phillies.