Press Clippings June 14, 2015

THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1925-Third-string Tom Sullivan becomes the first player born in to appear in a major league game. The 18- year-old grounds out in what would be his only appearance.

MLB.COM Reds upended in 9th after long interruption By Carrie Muskat and Greg Garno / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Kris Bryant doubled and scored on Starlin Castro's walk-off single in the ninth inning to lift the Cubs to a 4-3 rain- interrupted victory Saturday night over the Reds in front of 40,693 fans, the largest crowd of the year at .

"That's what gets you to play in October, to win a game like that," Cubs said.

With the game tied at 3 in the ninth, Bryant doubled to lead off against Tony Cingrani, who then with a pitch. Castro lined the second pitch into center for the game-winner.

It was the Cubs' seventh walk-off win this season. They are the first Major League club with that many through 60 games since the Giants had seven in 2013.

Chicago's was in line for the win after giving up one over five innings on 's 14th . The Cubs had a 3-1 lead when play was halted before the start of the sixth because of rain. During the 2-hour, 48-minute delay, fans were treated to the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup final game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on the video scoreboard, which Chicago won, 2-1.

"They set the tone for us tonight," Maddon said of the Blackhawks.

Hendricks did not return when play resumed, and James Russell served up three straight hits, including a two-run homer by Eugenio Suarez, which tied the game at 3 in the sixth.

"It's a tough one to lose, but I'm glad we stuck around and played it through nine," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "It's still a loss, but we showed a lot of guts and integrity from our players."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Votto-matic: The Reds trailed 2-0 in the fourth when Votto launched a 2-1 from Hendricks to left. Votto finished 2-for-4 on the night with a single as well, and has reached base in 22 consecutive games, with 26 hits in that span.

Miggy mashing: Montero is batting .252, but he's been providing some power lately. Bryant singled off the first pitch from Mike Leake to start the Cubs' second inning, and Montero launched the next pitch into the basket on the top of the outfield fence in straightaway center for his ninth home run. Montero leads all in home runs, and now has hit four in his last 10 games.

"They were both mistakes that [Bryant and Montero] did what they should have done with," Leake said. "They made me pay."

Ground rules: Leake "lives by the ground ball," according to Price, and Saturday was no different. The right-hander recorded 10 outs on ground balls, including one on a behind-the-back toss from Votto as Leake covered first.

Rain-delay response: Cincinnati wasted little time in the return from the nearly three-hour rain delay, and strung together three consecutive hits off Russell, including Suarez's first homer. The Reds had five baserunners in the first five innings before four batters reached in the sixth.

"We came out of the rain delay with a lot of intensity and fire, and played those last four innings extremely well," Price said. "We made a game of it and gave ourselves a chance to win that ballgame."

QUOTABLE

"They did not break our will to win. You're on top, 3-1, looking pretty good. The [weather] radar screen looks orange, red, whatever, green. Probably not going to play, and then you have to play. Give the Reds a lot of credit, they came back and did what they did. We had opportunities, did not get it done. My point is, you do not permit the other team to break your will under any circumstances." – Maddon

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

When Bryant singled to lead off the second, he extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He's the first Cubs rookie with two hitting streaks of at least 10 games in the same season since Bill Madlock did so in 1974.

REPLAY REVIEWS

• In the fourth, Bryant was called out at home trying to score on Castro's grounder to shortstop. After the Cubs challenged, the call was overturned and Bryant was ruled safe, giving the Cubs a 3-1 lead.

• The Reds had a challenge go in their favor for the final out of the fifth. Chicago's hit a grounder to first, fielded by Votto, who flipped the ball behind his back to Leake. Leake was originally ruled off the base, but the call was overturned after a review.

• With one out in the eighth, Coghlan was ruled out at first after a throw from second baseman Kristopher Negron pulled Votto off the base. The call was overturned after the Cubs' second challenge of the night.

WHAT'S NEXT

Reds: Starter Anthony DeSclafani will make his third start of the season against the Cubs when Cincinnati concludes its four-game series on Sunday at 8:08 p.m. ET at Wrigley Field. DeSclafani has posted three quality starts in his last four outings, averaging 1.75 runs a game in that time.

Cubs: will try to get back on track Sunday in the series finale against the Reds. The lefty is winless in his last four starts and 0-2 with a 10.61 ERA in his last two games. He has faced the Reds twice this season and yet to get a decision. First pitch is scheduled for 7:08 p.m. CT.

Rain delay bottles up Leake's efficient effort Starter's night cut short after lengthy interruption before 6th inning By Greg Garno / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Mike Leake had done what he was best at through five innings against the Cubs on Saturday night: force ground balls.

The Reds right-hander induced 10 groundouts and was cruising along at 61 pitches. But then the rain came, and Leake's five-hit, three-run outing was finished.

He earned his third no-decision of the season against the Cubs, who went on to win in walk-off fashion, 4-3.

"Shutouts are a rarity, and he battled tonight," said Reds manager Bryan Price. "I looked at his pitch count and thought, 'Shoot, there's no reason why he might not pitch a complete game.' I wasn't feeling like they were on him. I thought he did a pretty nice job of doing his damage control."

Leake was on pace for his fourth straight quality start before the rain interruption of 2 hours, 48 minutes. Working through the Cubs' aggressive approach at the plate, he had only one and didn't walk a batter as Chicago swung on nearly every first pitch against him.

"I was mainly in a low pitch count because of them," Leake said. "They were swinging early in the count. It was do or die in the first couple of pitches because they were so aggressive tonight."

Leake was burned in the second inning on Chicago's aggressive approach, as Kris Bryant singled to left field on the first pitch he saw before Miguel Montero homered to center field on the second pitch.

"They were both mistakes that they did what they should have done with," Leake said. "They made me pay."

Leake now carries a 4.35 ERA after the short outing, but he has posted a 3.32 ERA in the month of June after he finished May with a 6.75 ERA. Still, he was quiet and subdued in the clubhouse after the game for someone who had been able to do what he does best.

"In those games, those are like eight-inning, four-run type games, and it was leading that direction," Leake said. "But sometimes the rain gets in the way."

Lester takes hill for prime-time finale vs. Reds By Greg Garno / MLB.com

Winless in his last four starts, Cubs left-hander Jon Lester takes the mound Sunday night for the finale of a four-game series against the Reds, who counter with rookie Anthony DeSclafani.

Lester, who has lost three straight starts, enters off his shortest outing of the year, when he allowed five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings at Detroit. Cubs manager Joe Maddon isn't worried about Lester's poor showings of late. The ace put together seven straight quality starts before his last two losses.

"I don't want him to feel like he got beat up [in his last start], because he didn't," Maddon said. "It wasn't like he was making awful pitches, because he wasn't. He may not have been on top of his game, but I thought his stuff was pretty good early on in that game."

Lester's offense hasn't given him much run support recently, averaging 1.75 runs in his last four games. The Cubs will hope to find more success against DeSclafani.

The Reds right-hander has made a quality start in three of his last four games, allowing 2.25 runs over that span. His offense, on the other hand, has provided plenty of firepower in his outings. The Reds have averaged 8.5 runs per game in his last four starts.

Three things to know for this game

• Lester has struck out 14 and walked only one in two starts against the Reds this season, but he carries a 6.75 ERA against them. His last time out against Cincinnati, he struck out a season-high-tying 10 batters.

• No member of the Cubs has had more than eight at-bats against DeSclafani. has seen him the most, entering 0-for-8.

• DeSclafani has faced the Cubs twice this season, going 1-1. He has allowed only one earned run but surrendered four more that went unearned.

Reds' infield adjusting with Phillips sidelined Groin injury limits second baseman to pinch duties By Greg Garno / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- The Reds once again were without second baseman Brandon Phillips in their lineup Saturday evening, missing his ability to get on base (.348 OBP) and score (27 runs). But its his comfort defensively that could prove to be a bigger obstacle to overcome.

Phillips' absence has only been magnified with the loss of shortstop Zack Cozart for the season, leaving a gap of inexperience in the middle of the infield.

Eugenio Suarez, 23, started at shortstop while two-year veteran Kristopher Negron started at second. Negron hasn't been a regular second baseman for Cincinnati, as Ivan De Jesus has seen more time at that position.

"These opportunities, where we have some injuries and some new guys up there, create opportunities for me to plug guys into different roles and see how they handle it," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "It's one of those unusual times because De Jesus is up here now for his first time and Geno as well. They're just trying to get comfortable being on the team. Even though these guys got to know each other a bit during , I'm sure there's still that awkwardness about just feeling like they're a part of the ballclub."

Phillips and Cozart had solidified the defense up the middle, as Phillips' 26 plays and Cozart's 30 were both good for 10th in the Majors at their respective positions entering Saturday.

Phillips could return Sunday if Price likes what he sees out of pregame workouts. Phillips has been out of the starting lineup with a groin injury since the first inning of Tuesday's game against the Phillies, but he entered as a pinch-hitter on Friday and again Saturday night, driving a sharp flyout to center field while batting for the in the seventh inning.

"I think the risk/reward is not real good to rush this one," Price said. "Until I see him moving, making more explosive movement, I won't think about starting him."

Phillips' presence likely will be missed Saturday night with pitcher Mike Leake on the mound. Leake "lives on the ground ball," according to Price, and will go the first time without either Cozart or Phillips behind him . Price and Cincinnati also are waiting to see how quickly Phillips and Suarez can bond on defense.

"I know we'll have Brandon back, but he and Geno are going to have to connect, defensively," Price said. "Geno is a very large part of this ballclub, and in large part, our success will be based on the relationship he's able to build with Brandon up the middle."

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Cubs walk off with win against Reds By John Fay / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @johnfayman

CHICAGO — The bullpen, so good lately for the Reds, finally cracked in the ninth Saturday.

Tony Cingrani did not retire any of the three batters he faced, and the Reds fell to the 4-3 before a crowd of 40,693 at Wrigley Field.

Kris Bryant led off the ninth with a double off of Cingrani. Cingrani hit Miguel Montero with the next pitch. Two pitches later, Starlin Castro lined one into center to score Bryant for the walk-off win.

The run was only the second the Reds' relief corps has allowed over the last seven games and 20 1/3 innings.

The game was delayed by rain for nearly three hours between the fifth and sixth innings. There was some question as to whether they would finish it — since it was an official game.

"I was glad we stayed and played," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We were in regular contact with umpires. They have a procedure with . It was a two-run game after five innings. No one wanted to call it."

The Reds got home runs from Joey Votto and Eugenio Suarez.

Starter Mike Leake went five innings and allowed three runs on five hits before the rain delay started. He walked none and struck out one. Leake did not return after the delay.

Leake was facing the Cubs for the third time this year. He got no-decisions in both games, but the Reds lost both. Leake went seven innings and gave up four runs on April 13 in the 7-6 loss in Chicago. He went seven innings and allowed three runs in a 7-3 loss in Cincinnati on April 24.

Leake worked a 1-2-3 first Saturday, thanks to diving plays by Kristopher Negron and Todd Frazier.

The second went bad quickly for Leake. Bryant lined the first pitch of the inning into left for a single. Montero hit the next pitch out to dead center for his ninth home run of the year and second in three days against the Reds.

Just like that, it was 2-0.

"They were both mistakes," Leake said. "They did what they should have done. They made me pay."

Votto cut the lead in half in the fourth. He hit a 2-1 pitch out the opposite way to left field for his 14th homer. Todd Frazier followed with his 100th career double.

An out later, Negron beat out an infield hit. But Frazier rounded third too aggressively and was caught in a rundown, ending the inning.

Leake got into more trouble in the Chicago fourth.

Bryant led off with a double. Montero followed with a ground ball that Negron stopped, preventing Bryant from scoring.

That looked like a big play when Castro hit a grounder to shortstop Suarez. He threw home. Catcher Tucker Barnhart applied a sweep tag. Home plate Dan Belino called Bryant out.

The Cubs asked for a replay review. The call was overturned after three minutes and 55 seconds of review, and the Cubs led 3-1.

The Reds went 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth, making it an official game. The rain started as the Reds batted.

Leake worked a 1-2-3 fifth. The fifth ended on another replay review. First base umpire Toby Basner ruled that Leake pulled his foot off the bag as he caught Votto's behind-the-back flip from Chris Coghlan's grounder.

After a two-minute, five-second review, the call was overturned. As soon as the out call was made, the grounds crew put the tarp on the field.

The delay lasted two hours, 48 minutes. Leake had only thrown 61 pitches.

"I was mainly in a low pitch count because of them," Leake said. "They were swinging early. It was do or die on the first couple of pitches."

But he couldn't return after the long delay.

"Sometimes, rain gets in the way," he said.

The Reds jumped on the Cubs' new pitcher, James Russell, as soon as play resumed. Skip Schumaker singled. Suarez followed with his first home run as a Red — a line shot to left on a 2-2 pitch. After Votto singled, Russell was done.

"We came out with a lot of intensity," Price said. "We played extremely well after the rain delay. A lot of good defensive plays."

The Reds' bullpen kept it right there. Manny Parra took over for Leake and pitched a scoreless inning.

Ryan Mattheus worked a scoreless seventh. He gave up a lead-off double to in the eighth. squared to try to bunt Russell over. Fowler bunted through the ball. Barnhart picked off Russell.

Fowler followed with a bloop double to left. Coghlan hit a grounder that second baseman Negron stopped with a dive. He threw to first in time. Basner called Coghlan out. But it was reviewed on replay and overruled. Votto clearly left the bag before he caught the ball.

Mattheus then got Anthony Rizzo to hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

The Reds threatened in the ninth on back-to-back, two-out hits by pinch-hitter Chris Dominguez and Billy Hamilton. But Jason Motte got Schumaker to ground out.

"When you lose a game, you lose a game," Price said. "But I like the fact that we came out and got back in the game."

Fay: Given injuries, firing Price would be foolish By John Fay / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @johnfayman

CHICAGO — A lot could change with the Reds over the next few weeks. You could see Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, and among others traded. You could see Devin Mesoraco officially shut down for the season.

What you almost certainly will not see is a change in the manager's office.

It would be hard and foolish to fire Bryan Price given all the injuries.

With three of your top 10 players done for the season (yes, I think Mesoraco has played his last game of the year), it's impossible to evaluate a manager.

There's no telling where the Reds might end up. It's going to be difficult to get to and stay at .500 given the injuries. But Price has reacted to the adversity admirably.

The club went into Saturday on one of its best runs of the year — winners of five of six. Price has had a lot to do with that. Since the nine-game losing streak and team meeting Price called, the Reds are 10-5. Four of those losses were bullpen meltdowns.

Price has since straightened out the relief corps by moving J.J. Hoover into the eighth-inning role. The bullpen had allowed one run over the last six games and 17 1/3 innings going into Saturday.

The offense has been much better since Price moved Billy Hamilton from the leadoff spot to ninth. Since the move, the Reds are hitting .259 and averaging 4.8 runs a game. Before the move, the Reds hit .241 and averaged 3.9 runs a game.

Those moves between the lines are important. But what is more important is the tone and attitude of a manager when things go bad. The Zack Cozart injury hit as hard as any. Cozart was having a great year — a bounce-back year — and he's a good teammate and just generally good guy.

"Those are tough to deal with," Bruce said.

But Price hasn't let the circumstances get him down.

"We all expect that there are going to be injuries and bumps and bruises along the way," Price said. "The severity of the injuries have really been debilitating to our club. I don't think about how it affects me personally as a manager as much as I think how it affects our ability to put our best competitive product on the field."

The Reds ran out their lineup a total of five times and won four of those games. With Cozart out for the year, the projected lineup will not play again. This comes after the Reds only used their projected starting lineup 12 times in Price's first year.

Price is generally an upbeat guy. He's lost his cool a few times this year — once at my colleague C. Trent Rosecrans and once at his players. The tirade at Trent didn't help matters. Lashing out at his club seemed to work. They won five of six games after it.

Again, it's hard to say where things go from here. But Price deserves credit for keeping things together and not using the injuries as an out.

"The fallback is to start making excuses about win-loss," Price said. "My win-loss record as a manager — and I mean this sincerely — is completely inconsequential. My concern is that we're out there and we're competitive and we play hard.

"In 2014, '15 we anticipated going out there and competing for the division. We haven't given up on that. It just becomes more challenging without all your pieces."

Since baseball is a daily game, Price and his staff have had to continually try to patch things together and move. Aside from the season-ending injuries, the Reds have been dealing with other injuries as well. Marlon Byrd is on the DL. Brandon Phillips missed his fourth straight start Saturday with a strained groin.

"You can only spend so much time looking at the disabled list and getting caught up in the players you don't have," Price said. "We've invested way more time and energy in the players we do have. It's really the only way to go about business. If not, all you're selling to players and the fans is: We can't win without Cozart, Bailey and Mesoraco.

"That's not the case. There are other teams that have been blown up by injuries and continue to compete.

"There's been zero 'why me?' I can assure you of that."

Pete Rose: The boy from Braddock Street BOY FROM THE 'HOOD: WALKS UP A HILL IN RIVERSIDE AND BACK 60 YEARS By Paul Daugherty / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected]

The walk into his past isn't easy. Pete Rose hobbles back in time to his boyhood home, because his knees ache and he's put on a few pounds and because he is 74 years old. Baseball is youth and Pete Rose was baseball, but all that's in the past now.

"This was all clear, through here,'' he is saying. Pete points to a wall of green, a mess of weeds and overgrowth that now defines the view from the front of the house on Braddock Street in Riverside, where he grew up. Pete's not a man seeking his past – I asked him to bring me here – but he's still a bit beholden to it. And in peculiar awe.

"It don't look the same,'' he says.

I ask him to knock on the door. He demurs. "Don't want to inconvenience 'em,'' Pete says, so we walk around to the backyard instead, where a basketball hoop once loomed not five feet from the kitchen window. Just up the hill, Pete and his friends had carved out a makeshift ballfield. The hoop is gone. Nature has done its work on the ballfield. "When I lived here, it was kept up,'' he says.

Weeds own the view. Trees have grown tall, overgrowth covers the path where 8-year-old Pete would sled ride, all the way down to Schulte's Fish House. From the front porch, you could see the Ohio River nearly half a mile away. Now?

"I don't remember everything being so cluttered,'' Pete says.

Pete Rose and Enquirer Sports columnist Paul Daugherty visit the Hit King's former ballpark in Sedamsville and his boyhood home in Riverside in an intimate look back at Rose's childhood in Cincinnati. The All-Star Game is coming in a few weeks and with it, memories of a less fettered Pete Rose. His life was a whole lot simpler with a bat in his hand. He won three world championships, he passed the great Cobb, he managed the young Reds to the brink before Lou Piniella took them over the top. We all know what happened next.

With age comes complications. Things get cluttered, for better or worse. Pete Rose, once as simple a personality as existed, kept the extraneous noise at bay for a very long time, until it gathered in one mighty wave and swept him away. What's left is a lingering, low-grade tragedy, in the person of a man whose view was perfectly clear for such a long, glorious time.

"You gotta remember,'' Pete says, "all we did was play ball. That was all we had.''

A lot to learn

Harry Rose wouldn't let Pete go to the movies. There was a theater across River Road from Bold Face Park, as Pete recalls. This was the late 1940s, when attending Saturday matinees was a rite of school-age passage. Harry worried about his first-born son's eyesight. "He wanted me to be a hitter,'' Pete says.

Harry worked at a bank downtown, crunching numbers. It was just a job. His passion was sports, specifically semi-pro football. At home and work, Harry was polite and unassuming. On the gridiron, he was an abject load.

His Riverside Athletic Club team might draw a weekend afternoon crowd of 5,000. Harry's grit was legendary. He was a smallish man (about 5-foot-8, maybe 175 pounds) playing a large man's game, and owned a competitiveness not often seen.

Harry once appeared on a TV show where he was asked to demonstrate proper tackling technique. He launched himself at a director's chair, sending splinters all over the set.

"I saw him break his hip, then crawl trying to make the tackle,'' Pete recalls. Little Pete was a ball boy and water boy at his dad's games. He'd pass around the hat at halftime, for money to pay the referees. "I saw him get a (knot) on his elbow big as a softball. He put a bandage on it with some ice, then intercepted a pass and ran 70 yards for a touchdown the next play.

"Every once in awhile, someone in (Las) Vegas will come up to me and say, 'My dad played against your dad, and he was a son of a b---- . Which he was.''

Harry Rose was not the prototype helicopter dad, but he wanted things done a certain way. He had Pete switch-hitting at age 9, a skill Pete perfected over the years, using the wall of Schulte's as a backstop. Pete had a broom handle, his younger brother Dave a rubber ball.

"I'd let him get as close as he wanted,'' Pete says. "The closer he got, the harder it was to hit. Hour after hour, he'd try to strike me out. I wore that wall out.''

The family never went on summer vacations, because summer was when Pete played ball, and Harry made deals with all of Pete's coaches:

If they agreed to allow Pete to bat left-handed versus right-handed , and vice versa, Harry would guarantee his son's attendance at every game and practice. "He didn't think it was fair to the team, for one of the star players to go on vacation,'' Pete says.

Harry Rose tested himself. Maybe it offered a break from the sedentary monotony of the bank. Or maybe it was Harry being Harry. Every day at close to 5 p.m., he'd get off the public bus at River Road and Cathcart Street. Cathcart slopes steeply uphill, not 45 degrees, but close.

Harry would sprint up Cathcart in his patent-leather work shoes, make the right onto Braddock and sprint to his house at the end of the lane. Every day. "Who does that sound like?'' Pete asks.

Pete recalls that on Sundays, Harry would visit his mother, who lived up River Road maybe a mile and a half. Harry would leave his house, take the Anderson Ferry across to Kentucky, walk several miles upriver, cross a bridge back to the Ohio side, then visit his mother. "Just for the exercise,'' Pete says.

When Pete was in the minor leagues, all of Harry's letters ended, "Love, Dad. Keep hustling.''

In 1953, a reporter for one of the local papers wrote of Harry, "He is 41 years old, father of four, still can run 100 yards in 10.5 seconds.'' When Harry was 58, he challenged 29-year-old Pete to a 40-yard dash, while both were at Colerain High School for an offseason Reds charity basketball game. Harry won. Two weeks later, Harry died of a heart attack. Pete got the news from his sister while he was across the river getting a haircut.

"If he wasn't like he was, he might have lived longer. My dad was never sick. He never missed a day of work,'' Pete says. Harry felt sick that day, though. Pain in his chest. He didn't ask for help. He caught the bus home, made it to the top of the steps, saw his wife and died.

'If that field was open, we were on it'

Lots of Pete lived on through Harry. We are at Bold Face Park on a recent afternoon, sitting atop a massive stone structure that once contained changing rooms for the park's two swimming pools, long since filled in. We climb a flight of steps to the top. Pete looks across the park, its two softball fields neat and recently groomed.

"I lived over there in the summer,'' he says, pointing to a three-story, red-brick rowhouse on the opposite edge of the park. That would be his grandmother's place. Eva Sams lived on the third floor, alone but for a pet monkey named, yes, Pete. "The meanest SOB,'' Pete Rose says. "It would bite everybody, then hide in the rafters.''

Pete lived with Eva, because the baseball wasn't very good four miles down the river, where Braddock Street was. Pete (and Harry) wanted Pete to play against the best. So his Knothole summers were lived with grandma.

"I was pretty lucky we had all this,'' he says. "I developed right here, just by playing. If that field was open, we were on it. I just walked across the street. I had my bat, my glove and my ball.''

Life didn't move a lot in those summers. It lolled, like the river. It might have been boring for anyone not named Pete Rose. His singleness of purpose afforded no time for boredom. Even when he left for Geneva, N.Y., and his first minor-league season, Rose returned to Braddock Street at season's end, swinging a leaded bat 150 times every night, each side, left and right, before he went to bed.

The whir of the bat would wake up Harry. "My uncle (his mother's brother and part-time Reds scout Buddy Bloebaum) told me it would make my arms bigger.''

After awhile, Rose surveys Bold Face Park and declares, "I don't miss this place. I can't play no more. The pools are gone. At 3:30 this afternoon, there won't be no kids playing'' on the tidy fields below. When we walk down from atop the stone building at the edge of Bold Face Park, Pete takes each step sideways. He limps some.

Back up on Braddock, Pete kicks at the gravel-and-grass front yard, and wonders where the big tree went. "I used to climb that tree,'' he says. He's not nostalgic, he's not romantic, so there is no point in asking Peter Edward Rose if he ever wishes he could go back and do it all over again, armed with what he knows now.

I want to ask him this, though, because the answer would be essential to who he was and who he has become: "Pete, with everything good you took from this place, and from the father that raised you – your jaunty attitude, your endless passion and striving, your regular-guy appeal – how could you possibly have ended up in the place you're in now?''

An uncluttered man, whose virtue was his focus, is now burdened by regret, and by a frayed legacy that will never be what it should have been, what he intended so long ago, while slamming switch-hits past his brother in the parking lot at Schulte's.

But I don't. I don't ask Pete this, because he will never give me the answer I'm looking for. Rose is candid. He isn't introspective. There's a life's worth of difference.

Instead, I ask: "What would your dad say to you right now, if he were standing with us in front of this house where he raised you?''

"He'd say, 'How come you're not up there working with your grandson, teaching him how to hit'?''

Pete looks down, kicks some gravel, changes the subject. "I can't believe all these trees grew in 40 years,'' he says.

"Forty years is a long time,'' I say.

"It is,'' says Pete Rose.

ESPN.COM Rapid Reaction: Cubs 4, Reds 3 By John Jackson / ESPN.com

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 on Saturday night with a ninth-inning rally in a game that was delayed 2 hours, 48 minutes because of rain. Here’s a quick look at the game.

How it happened: Kris Bryant led off the ninth with a base hit into left field and hustled it into a double. After Miguel Montero was hit by a pitch, Starlin Castro ended things with a sharp base hit to center to score Bryant.

For the second time in three games, Montero got the Cubs off to a quick start with a home run in his first at-bat, a two-run shot in the second inning. In the opener of the series Thursday, he hit a three-run shot in the first inning.

Joey Votto hit a solo homer to left field in the fourth inning to cut the Cubs' lead in half, but the home team got the run back in the bottom half of the inning -- thanks to a successful replay challenge. Bryant started the rally with a lead-off double and advanced to third on an infield single by Montero. Castro followed with a grounder to shortstop; with Bryant trying to score, Eugenio Suarez fired home to catcher Tucker Barnhart. Bryant was called out initially, but after a lengthy delay (3 minutes, 55 seconds), the call was overturned and Bryant was ruled safe, giving the Cubs a 3-1 lead as rain began falling.

Play was halted after the bottom of the fifth when the rain intensified.

Following the delay, it took the Reds just seven pitches to tie the score against reliever James Russell. Skip Schumaker led off the sixth with a single, and Suarez, who was just promoted to the major leagues on Thursday, then stroked a 2-2 pitch into the left-field bleachers. Russell was yanked after the third batter he faced, Votto, singled sharply to center.

The score remained 3-3 until the ninth.

Bryant streaking: Bryant’s second-inning single extended his hitting streak to 10 games. It’s his second hitting streak of at least 10 games this season, making him the first Cubs rookie with two double-digit hitting streaks since Bill Madlock in 1974. Bryant had a 12-game streak earlier in the season. Madlock had streaks of 14 and 10 games.

Rain-delay action: Any remaining fans opposed to the new video scoreboards at Wrigley Field might have had a change of heart Saturday night. During the rain delay, the Cubs showed Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning. In years past, the fans would have been “entertained” with organ music.

What’s next: Cubs ace Jon Lester (4-5, 4.25 ERA) tries to emerge from a recent funk in the finale of the four-game series against Reds right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (5-4, 3.53). Lester is 0-2 with a 10.61 ERA in his last two starts at Miami and at Detroit.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Suarez ties it for Reds after rain delay, Cubs win in 9th By Sarah Trotto / The Associated Press

CHICAGO — Eugenio Suarez has had three eventful days with the Cincinnati Reds.

He hit a tying, two-run home run in the sixth inning coming out of a lengthy rain delay before Starlin Castro's single in the ninth lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 win over the Reds on Saturday night.

Called up from Triple-A Louisville on Thursday to replace injured shortstop Zack Cozart, Suarez also had the winning hit in the 10th inning of the Reds' 5-4 win over the Cubs on Friday.

"Right now, I feel really blessed," Suarez said.

Suarez tied the game for the Reds in the top of the sixth with a two-run home run off James Russell soon after the game was resumed from a 2-hour, 48-minute rain delay.

"We came out of that rain delay with a lot of intensity and fire," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We really played those last four innings extremely hard, extremely well and made a game of it."

Suarez has five career home runs, including four last season with Detroit.

"He threw a two-seamer and he hung it, and I hit it pretty good," Suarez said.

During the rain delay, the Wrigley Field videoboards showed Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning. At one point, fans were urged to seek shelter due to lightning. A fan ran onto the field after the Blackhawks took the lead and was caught in center field. Chicago won 2-1 to take a 3-2 series lead.

Neither starting pitcher returned after the rain delay. Kyle Hendricks struck out seven in five innings. Mike Leake allowed five hits in five innings.

Kris Bryant led off the bottom of the ninth with a double before Miguel Montero was hit by a pitch to bring up Castro, who singled to center field off Tony Cingrani (0-3).

"We continue to play adverse circumstances with the weather. They came back," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "We have opportunities, don't get it done, but don't cave. That's how you play in October."

Jason Motte (3-1) allowed two hits and struck out one in scoreless ninth for the Cubs, who have won five of seven.

Montero hit a two-run home run, his ninth, on the first pitch he saw from Leake in the second. Bryant scored after he singled to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.

"They were both mistakes that they did what they should have done with. They made me pay," Leake said.

Joey Votto's solo home run, his 14th, made it a one-run game in the fourth. It was his first homer since he hit three June 9 against the Phillies.

Bryant scored from third on a fielder's choice for a two-run lead in the fourth. He was initially ruled out at home on a throw from Suarez, but the call was overturned after a review.

The Reds had two in scoring position in the ninth before Skip Schumaker's inning-ending groundout.

"It's a tough one to lose because the guys were pushing hard to win that ballgame," Price said.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Reds: 2B Brandon Phillips (groin) remained out of the starting lineup for the third straight game. He pinch hit Friday and Saturday. "Until I see him make more explosive movements, I don't think he'll start," Price said.

UP NEXT

Reds RHP Anthony DeSclafani (5-4, 3.53 ERA) will start against Cubs LHP Jon Lester (4-5, 4.25) in the series finale.

A FAVORITE PLACE

Votto's 11 career home runs at Wrigley Field tie his most at an opponent's ballpark. He also has 11 at the Brewers' Miller Park. His solo shot Saturday was his first at Wrigley since June 11, 2013.

TRANSACTIONS Date Transaction 06/14/15 optioned to Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Philadelphia Phillies recalled Domonic Brown from Lehigh Valley IronPigs. selected the contract of from Chattanooga Lookouts. selected the contract of Francisco Lindor from Columbus Clippers. 06/13/15 Arizona Diamondbacks recalled Allen Webster from Reno Aces. signed 1B Seth Brown. Oakland Athletics signed RHP Dustin Hurlbutt. Oakland Athletics signed 2B Ryan Howell. Oakland Athletics signed 1B Chris Iriart. Oakland Athletics signed RHP Dakota Chalmers. Oakland Athletics signed LHP Andrew Tomasovich. Oakland Athletics optioned RHP A.J. Griffin to Nashville Sounds. Oakland Athletics transferred LHP Sean Doolittle from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. Strained Left Shoulder traded LHP to . New York Mets transferred LHP Jerry Blevins from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. Distal radius fracture of his left arm optioned Drew Rucinski to Salt Lake Bees. Los Angeles Angels selected the contract of Trevor Gott from Salt Lake Bees. Oakland Athletics signed C Jordan Devencenzi. optioned Edwin Escobar to Pawtucket Red Sox. sent Justin Ruggiano outright to Tacoma Rainiers. RF Torii Hunter roster status changed by Minnesota Twins. released SS Everth Cabrera. San Diego Padres sent LHP Cory Luebke on a rehab assignment to Lake Elsinore Storm. Oakland Athletics signed SS Tim Proudfoot. Arizona Diamondbacks designated RHP J.C. Ramirez for assignment. Oakland Athletics signed C Brett Sunde. sent 2B Steve Tolleson on a rehab assignment to . New York Yankees recalled Jose Ramirez from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. New York Yankees optioned Jacob Lindgren to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. New York Mets claimed Kirk Nieuwenhuis off waivers from Los Angeles Angels. Seattle Mariners recalled Danny Farquhar from Tacoma Rainiers. Seattle Mariners designated LF Rickie Weeks for assignment. recalled Brandon Finnegan from Omaha Storm Chasers. Kansas City Royals placed LHP Jason Vargas on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to June 9, 2015. Left flexor strain New York Yankees selected the contract of Sergio Santos from Yankees Extended Spring Training. Cleveland Indians activated RHP Scott Atchison from the 15-day disabled list. Cleveland Indians optioned C.C. Lee to Columbus Clippers. optioned Angel Nesbitt to Toledo Mud Hens. Detroit Tigers activated RHP from the 15-day disabled list. Tampa Bay Rays optioned Mikie Mahtook to Durham Bulls. Tampa Bay Rays recalled Curt Casali from Durham Bulls. optioned Andre Rienzo to New Orleans Zephyrs. Miami Marlins optioned Kendry Flores to New Orleans Zephyrs. Miami Marlins recalled Steve Cishek from Jacksonville Suns. Miami Marlins activated RHP Mat Latos from the 15-day disabled list. New York Yankees sent Esmil Rogers outright to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. sent LF Scott Van Slyke on a rehab assignment to Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.