Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) – Chris Iannetta’s solo home run in the sixth allowed seven strong innings by Aaron Cook to hold up in a 1-0 Rockies win against the Reds to avert a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park.
Cook (4-5) gave up six hits, fanned five and walked one to pick up an elusive first road win to the 2010 season. He was winless in nine previous road starts having gone 0-5 in that stretch.
Iannetta had one of three multi-hit efforts in Sunday’s pitchers’ duel with the Reds’ Orlando Cabrera and Drew Stubbs collecting the other two.
Cincinnati’s Travis Wood (0-1) again pitched well with nothing to show for it. The 23-year-old is still seeking his first big-league win through four starts after holding Colorado to three hits and a run over six innings.
The rookie hurler walked four and struck out six coming off a near perfect game broken up in the ninth of an eventual 1-0, 11-inning loss to the Phillies.
The Reds had a chance to tie it in the ninth after Stubbs singled off Huston Street with one away and Ryan Hanigan fisted a pinch-hit single into shallow center to leave runners at the corners.
Chris Heisey chased a slider off the plate for the second out and Street retired Brandon Phillips on three effective sliders to end the dramatics and stay perfect on the year in save chances with his sixth.
Wood’s only mistake came in the sixth with two out as Iannetta pulled a 2-2 changeup over the left-field wall to break a scoreless tie. Cook retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced before giving way to Joe Beimel in the eighth.
“It was definitely an important game. For us, we get out of here with at least one win and go to Florida and hope we can get on a roll from here,” Cook said of looking ahead to their four-game series in Miami.
Beimel got Joey Votto to ground out and Rafael Betancourt came on for the final two outs, inducing a pop fly from Laynce Nix to end the inning after an 11-pitch at-bat.
The Reds bullpen kept them in the game for a chance to tie the game in the later innings as Nick Masset and Arthur Rhodes fired a pair of clean frames in relief of Wood. Logan Ondrusek gave up a two-out single to Clint Barmes in the ninth, but Bill Bray entered and got pinch-hitter Seth Smith to foul out behind home plate.
Cincinnati had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings but failed to get a run home.
Nix struck out with runners at first and third in the first inning and Wood grounded out to strand a runner at third in the second. The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in their next at-bat, but Miguel Cairo grounded out to end the threat. Cook got another ground ball out from Phillips in the fourth to leave a runner at second.
“That 1-0 score is killing us right now,” remarked Cincinnati skipper Dusty Baker, whose club dropped a 1-0 decision for the fifth time this year and third time in the last five games. “In all of them we had opportunities with runners at third and less than two outs.”
Cook is 3-0 in nine lifetime meetings with the Reds…Wood lowered his earned run average to 2.02 in his first appearance in Cincinnati…The Rockies broke a three-game losing streak…The Reds have lost five of seven games overall…A pair of Rockies’ hitting streaks went by the wayside Sunday with Jonathan Herrera’s ending at 13 games and Carlos Gonzalez’s snapped at 10 games…Reds third baseman Scott Rolen sat for a second straight game due to illness. In addition, outfielder Jay Bruce was given the day off…Cincinnati finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position…The Reds next host Washington for four games.