Tigers pounce on Reds in extra innings

Tigers pounce on Reds in extra innings   05/21/2006 1:00 AM ET By Jason Beck / MLB.com DETROIT -- Ken Griffey Jr. brought a sellout crowd at Comerica

Tigers pounce on Reds in extra innings

 

 05/21/2006 1:00 AM ET 

By Jason Beck / MLB.com 

DETROIT -- Ken Griffey Jr. brought a sellout crowd at Comerica Park to a hush. Curtis Granderson put them back on their feet. 

While Granderson's game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth lacked the authority of Griffey's 423-foot grand slam, it had all the drama and more of a crowd reaction. It also had a 21-year-old, strong-armed reliever jumping up and down in the dugout like a kid. 

"He's my roommate. I'll probably have to buy him dinner," Joel Zumaya said after Detroit's 7-6 win over the Reds on Saturday night. 

The deciding play wasn't a ball over the fence, but a ball in the dirt. What should've been an inning-ending throw to first from shortstop Felipe Lopez, skipped past Rich Aurilia and allowed Carlos Guillen to score in the bottom of the 10th inning. Yet it'll be the home runs that most of those in attendance will remember, including many of the players. 

Granderson grew up idolizing Griffey. He still has his poster hanging in his old room where he grew up in Chciago, and might still have some of Griffey's baseball cards there. Granderson tried to imitate Junior's swing as a kid, right down to the home run pose. 

He was one of many in the ballpark watching in awe when Griffey added Comerica Park to his home-run list. He was playing center field at the time, but there wasn't anything any of the Tigers outfielders could do but watch. Right fielder Magglio Ordonez didn't take a step. 

Such was the impact when Griffey's power swing met up with Zumaya's 100-mph fastball. 

"He turned it around like it was a normal, average fastball," Granderson said. "You look at Zumaya making a pitch that hard. It wasn't a mistake. He did nothing wrong there. Maybe it was up in the zone. But only a few guys can get to that ball and keep it straight and keep it fair and hit it as far as he did. Griffey's one of them." 

Mike Maroth had scattered a run on four hits through six innings before Adam Dunn's second home run in as many nights led off what ended up a five-run seventh for the Reds. Brandon Phillips' one-out single, his third hit of the game, chased Maroth and prompted Tigers manager Jim Leyland to bring in Zumaya. 

Zumaya threw six consecutive fastballs before pinch-hitter Javier Valentin lined one of them for a single. Zumaya used his heater to set up Ryan Freel for a curveball over the plate and a called third strike, but Lopez drew a two-out walk to extend the inning for Griffey. 

"I didn't have a good feeling when he came up there," Leyland admitted. 

After a 99-mph fastball and an 85-mph curveball, Zumaya fired his lone triple-digit fastball of the night. Griffey saw it coming and launched it to right field, where it landed near the back of the grandstand seats. 

It was Griffey's first career home run at Comerica Park, leaving new Busch Stadium in St. Louis the lone active park in which he has yet to homer. Zumaya became the 344th pitcher to give a homer to Griffey, and the first whose last name begins with a 'Z'. 

"I should've thrown some breaking balls to Griffey," said Zumaya, who himself admitted to being a Griffey fan when he was in Little League. "But the theory with me and Pudge was going right after Griffey, see what he would do. He ended up getting it." 

Added Granderson: "For a split second, I was like, 'Wow, that was amazing there.' Then, all of a sudden, now we're down. Gotta fight back." 

Granderson's home run, by contrast, was estimated at just 348 feet, which was enough to clear the left-field fence near the 345-foot barrier. 

David Weathers retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth before Granderson, who entered the game in the sixth when it was still a 5-1 game, came to the plate. Weathers' 2-1 fastball traveled at 87 mph. Granderson went to the opposite field with it. 

"I was thinking double," Granderson said. "That's why I was running right away. I thought I hit it OK, definitely not enough to think I got that ball. My whole goal right away out of the box was to get to second, maybe to third depending on what it does off the wall. It happened to get out of the ballpark." 

After Fernando Rodney (1-0) retired the side in order in the top of the 10th, Weathers (1-2) hit Guillen with one out in the bottom half. With a 3-1 count on Chris Shelton, Guillen took off on a hit-and-run. Shelton swung and missed, and catcher Valentin's throw beat Guillen to the bag, but the ball was dropped. 

Guillen took third on a fielder's choice ground ball off the bat of Dmitri Young. With two outs, Craig Monroe hit what appeared to be an inning-ending grounder to short, but Lopez's double-clutched throw skipped wide. 

Detroit's first extra-inning game of the season seemed to follow the same script of their 27 previous victories, set to the sound of a sellout crowd. Just don't try to convince them it's luck. 

"Good things happen to good teams," said Maroth, whose quality start seemed like a distant memory by the time the Tigers walked away with their eighth victory in their last nine games. 

And good roommates offer to pay back, though Granderson said Zumaya doesn't owe him anything. 

"I'm always going to try my best to pick him up," Granderson said.