CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Two unexpected heroes keyed the Cincinnati Reds move to catch the division leaders. Alfredo Simon moved into a tie for the National League lead with his 11th win and Billy Hamilton homered as the Reds snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. Simon was a replacement in the rotation for Mat Latos, who missed the first two months of the season. The right-hander has never thrown more than 115 2-3 innings in his career. He has 110 with 77 games left in the season, "Every time I go out, I just try to do my best," the 33-year old said. "I keep trying to put zeroes on the board. Ive never had 11 wins before but my arm is like a 20-year old." Before a crowd of 42,120, Cincinnatis fifth sellout of the season, Simon helped the Reds take a 2-0 lead in the third inning. He lined a single with one out, and Hamilton followed on the next pitch with a 344-foot home run into the visitors bullpen down the right field line. It was the fifth of the season for Junes National League Rookie of the Month. Hamilton hit just six homers at Triple-A Louisville last season, his first full season as a switch hitter. "Hamilton took advantage of one of the few mistakes Kyle Lohse made," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "It is not just the home runs. It is the evolution of the player that is impressive. Hes done a lot of things we didnt know that he was able to do this soon in his career." Hamilton guessed right on Lohses pitch selection. "He threw me some changeups my first time up," Hamilton said. "I was looking for one that time. Home runs are surprises. It just happens. I put the same swing on every pitch." Hamilton saved Simon with a leaping catch off the bat of Ryan Braun, leading off the sixth. "The guys take a lot of pride in their defence," Price said. "A lot of them want to win Gold Gloves." Skip Schumaker and Joey Votto had run-scoring doubles for the Reds, who were coming off being swept in a three-game series at San Diego. Simon (11-3), making his career-high 17th start, overcame Jonathan Lucroys home run to move into a tie with the Dodgers Zack Greinke and the Cardinals Adam Wainwright for the NL lead in wins. The Central Division-leading Brewers dropped their fourth straight, matching their longest losing streak of the season. Simon allowed six hits and two runs with two walks, three strikeouts and a wild pitch in 7 1-3 innings to improve to 5-0 over his last seven starts. Jonathan Broxton got the final two outs of the eighth and Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth for his 17th save. Lohse (9-3) lasted five innings, allowing four runs -- three earned -- and seven hits with eight strikeouts and one walk while picking up his first loss in five starts since June 6. He was 2-0 over his previous four starts. "He threw a bad pitch to Hamilton, a changeup," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "Were making some bad pitches to Hamilton and hes not missing them. Kyle did some things right. He mixed speeds. His pitch count got up fast, but I didnt think he was that bad." The Reds scored as many runs in that span of two batters as they totalled against the Padres. They made it 3-0 in the fourth on consecutive doubles by Devin Mesoraco and Schumaker. Mesoraco was robbed of a home run by centre fielder Carlos Gomez, who went high above the wall in deep right-centre and almost pulled off a highlight-reel catch before settling for keeping the ball in play. Lyle Overbays error set up Cincinnatis fourth run. The first baseman couldnt corral Todd Fraziers spinning chopper with one out in the fifth inning, and Frazier scored all the way from first on Vottos double into the left field corner. The Brewers broke up the shutout in the seventh, which Simon started by hitting Aramis Ramirez, who moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Jean Seguras single. Lucroy knocked Simon out of the game in the eighth with his ninth homer of the season, a 374-foot drive to right-centre that bounced off the top of the wall and into the stands. Simon came into the game with the ninth-lowest ERA in the league and lowered it to 2.78 with the win. "I have the numbers for the All-Star team but its not up to me," Simon said. NOTES: Simons previous career high in starts was 16 for Baltimore in 2011. ... The Reds won their second straight game in front of a sellout crowd after losing their first three this season. ... Milwaukee recalled OF Logan Schafer from Triple-A Nashville on Friday. Schafer, who was optioned on June 13, had travel problems that delayed his arrival at Great American Ball Park, but he was in time to start in left field. ... Reds OF Jay Bruce extended his streak of consecutive hitless at-bats to 20, surpassing his previous career high of 19. ... The Reds opened their busiest home stand of the season. They are scheduled to play 11 games in 10 days, including a doubleheader against the Cubs on Tuesday created by a rainout. .com) - The Winnipeg Jets placed defenceman Paul Postma on injured reserve Tuesday. . MLB executive Joe Torre ruled on Tuesday nights game at Wrigley Field that was called after 4 1-2 innings. The Cubs were declared the winners by a 2-0 score. Now, it is instead a suspended game that will resume at 4:05 p.
http://www.ramsrookiestore.com/Rams-Mar ... rs-Jersey/. More importantly, he is trying to show his young teammates the Colorado are still post-season contenders. He hopes winning a series at home was a fresh start. . They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. . - The first sign that Kansas Speedway was going to be a heartbreaker for Hendrick Motorsports should have come during qualifying when Jimmie Johnson inexplicably spun and earned one of his worst starting spots since 2005.The notion of BMO Field as the future home of the Toronto Argonauts has been shelved as Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment prepares to invest in refurbishing the facility in time for next summers Pan-Am Games without a retrofit for Canadian football. In April, Toronto city council approved a plan to invest $10 million in a $120 million expansion, contingent on the provincial and federal governments kicking in $10 million each as well. That plan included expanding the stadium to accommodate CFL football, with the Argos hoping to move in as soon as next season. That stadium deal was put together at the same time that Argo owner David Braley was negotiating to sell the Argos to either MLSE or its largest individual shareholder, Larry Tanenbaum. However, with the provincial and federal governments yet to sign onto the deal, and time running out, MLSE is now focused on upgrading and repairing the facility under its current configurations, with an emphasis on getting it ready for next summers Pan-Am Games when it will host the Rugby Sevens competition. The state of eight-year-old BMO Field is apparently such that it is in need of significant upgrades to such things as the field, locker rooms, concourse areas and suites as well, all in time for the Pan-Am Games. Tuesdays news comes as a blow to the Argonauts, who appeared destined to move into BMO either under new ownership or with Braley negotiating a lease with MLSE. However, just where the Argos fit into the BMO picture now is unclear. "If in fact there are continued modifications to BMO and if in fact the Argos do not ever find a home there, it would be very disappointing," said Argo president Chris Rudge, "given that when the field was originally built there were discussions of the Argos playing there.dddddddddddd." While the possibility of an Argo sale to Tanenbaum or MLSE is not dead, according to a source, it has gone from being a priority to something that would depend on another phase of stadium expansion being approved. The Argos have been asked to vacate the Rogers Centre - their home since 1989 - after the 2017 season so that the Toronto Blue Jays may consider installing natural grass into the facility. MLSE will take a plan to city council next month to spend $80 million upgrading amenities in the stadium, asking for permission to spend the $10 million of city dollars on that project that was granted for the larger vision in April. MLSEs plan had been to expand BMO Field to accommodate CFL football as well as such things as larger soccer events and an NHL outdoor hockey game. However, all of those things are now dependent on another phase of stadium reconstruction, beyond the one expected to take place over the next year. Braley, who bought the BC Lions back in 1997, became sole owner of the Argonuats before the 2010 season. There has been speculation that part of Tanenbaums desire to see the Argos move into BMO is fueled by a desire to ease the NFLs concerns in advance of a possible relocation of the Buffalo Bills to Toronto. However, with it being highly unlikely the Bills can move anywhere before 2020, there may be less desire, from Tanenbaums perspective, to buy or acccomodate the Argos. ' ' '
