Arroyo Ends Slump, Reds Gain Ground

When Bronson Arroyo arrived at the Cincinnati Reds’ clubhouse before gametime, he was puzzled to find a bouquet of 10 red roses waiting for him.

The anonymous gesture might become his good-luck charm after Arroyo ended a 10-start winless slump and finally won his 10th game in a 7-2 victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night that cut the Cardinals’ lead in the NL Central to 1 1/2 games.

“It worked,” Arroyo said. “Hey, we’ll have to take them dead and everything to the next start.”

Edwin Encarnacion hit two of the Reds’ five home runs, all coming in the first five innings. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 24th to tie Pete Rose for 20th place with 1,041 extra-base hits, and Rich Aurilia and Adam Dunn also connected.

“From one through eight, you look at their numbers and they’ve got some thump,” Cardinals catcher Gary Bennett said.

“If you miss out over the plate, they have a good chance of hitting you hard and doing some damage.”

Arroyo (10-8) gave up one run and four hits in seven innings to win for the first time since June 19. He had been 0-5 with a 5.29 earned-run average during the drought, and gave up three home runs in a loss to the Cardinals in his last start.

After the game, Arroyo even removed the cornrows he had worn for his last two starts.

“They’re probably gone for a little while,” he said. “I gave them two opportunities to get a win and they did their job.”

Arroyo twice got the best of Albert Pujols, helping keep the Reds in charge. Pujols grounded into a double play in the first after Arroyo walked the first two batters, and grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice with the bases loaded in the third to cut the Reds’ lead to 4-1.

“Obviously, the two ground balls to Pujols were huge,” Arroyo said. “He’s a guy that you don’t want to be in that situation with.

“Luckily I threw two fastballs on the outer half and he hit them both for ground balls.”