Reds Hike Up Pants, Dig In, Beat Cardinals

In the opener of their make-or-break series, the Cincinnati Reds learned that luck is more a product of good pitching than old-fashioned tailoring.

Some of the Reds hiked up their pants legs for good luck, then used Denny Neagle’s strong start and homers by Ken Griffey Jr. and Dmitri Young to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2, Monday night.

The Reds won for only the fifth time in 19 games, moving 7 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the National League Central. The division’s top two teams play seven times in 11 days, a span that could decide Cincinnati’s season.

There was a smidgen of desperation in the Reds’ dugout when they took the field for the opener of the four-game series. Griffey, Barry Larkin and Pokey Reese donned short-cut pants that showed off their red socks, hoping to change the team’s luck.

The move came one day after Larkin criticized his teammates’ lethargic play in a loss that left them teetering. The win helped right the ship somewhat.

“It’s huge,” said Neagle (6-2), who went 7 2/3 innings. “You don’t want to panic and say it’s make-or-break for us, but if those guys would sweep or win three of four, obviously we’d be in a bad situation.

“I didn’t want to get a loss in that first one and all of a sudden my name is going around in trade rumors. I’ve said it before: I want to be around here.”

Those shortened pants will stick around as long as the Reds win.

“Absolutely, dude,” Larkin said. “I’m not superstitious or anything, but are you kidding me?”

Griffey gave the crowd of 32,850 a sense that things were turning around--for one night, anyway--by hitting a two-run homer in the first off Garrett Stephenson. Young added a two-out homer to right field in the fifth that stayed fair by a few feet and snapped a 2-2 tie.

Stephenson (9-4) is 1-4 in June, with the Cardinals scoring 10 runs in his five starts.

“Early on, we were getting him runs and he was winning,” Manager Tony La Russa said. “Now he’s pitching better and we’re not getting him any runs. He’s running into good pitching every time he goes out there.”

Griffey’s 23rd homer extended his hitting streak to 10 games.