PNC PARK Guillen powers Reds past Bucs

Jose Guillen's tie-breaking, two-run homer rallied Cincinnati to a 5-3 win.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- For the Cincinnati Reds, this must have seemed like an early inning laugher.
The team that leads the majors with 20 final at-bat victories didn't wait until their very last opportunity to pull off a comeback, as it so often does. The Reds did it an entire inning earlier.
Jose Guillen, developing a habit of hitting game-winning homers against his former clubs, delivered a tie-breaking, two-run shot in the eighth and the Reds rode Danny Graves' efficient start to a 5-3 decision over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
"I like seeing him coming to the plate then, that's for sure," Reds manager Bob Boone said.
Comeback
The Reds trailed 2-1 until scoring four times in the final three innings -- a familiar course of victory during a season in which they have a 56-28 scoring advantage from the ninth inning on.
OK, so they miscalculated this time and scored the decisive runs in the eighth inning, not the ninth inning or in extra innings.
It wasn't as if they didn't have their chances, though. They stranded 14 runners, nine in the first five innings before Pirates starter Jeff D'Amico was lifted.
The Reds finally tied it at 2 on Sean Casey's RBI single in the seventh against reliever Salomon Torres, and Guillen drove a 3-1 pitch from Julian Tavarez (0-3) into the seats in left-center with two outs in the eighth.
Tavarez hadn't allowed a homer in 351/3 innings over 31 appearances or a hit in 81/3 innings until the eighth.
Guillen hitting well
Guillen has 15 homers and 41 RBIs despite not playing regularly until late April, and he is 15-for-36 (.417) with three homers during a 12-game Reds road trip that ends Thursday.
"I've faced him a lot in the Dominican Republic and here and he's been really nasty," Guillen said of Tavarez. "I was just trying to have a good at-bat and put the ball in play somewhere."
Guillen also hit a game-winning homer last month against another of his former teams, the Devil Rays, as the Reds swept a three-game series.
"This is the first opportunity I've had to play regularly since Pittsburgh traded me to Tampa Bay in [1999]," Guillen said. "This team has given me new life and a new opportunity and I've taken advantage of that."
More opportunities
For now, Graves (4-7) looks like he'll be getting more opportunities, too. Because his sinker apparently is more effective when he's throwing it a lot, Graves probably will keep starting on three days' rest. He came back Tuesday to pitch seven innings after limiting Cleveland to two earned runs in seven innings Friday.
By closely monitoring Graves' pitch count, Boone is convinced the right-hander can remain effective even without the extra day of rest most starters get.
"We'll protect him with pitch counts ... I've talked to so many people, and it's those extra 15-20 pitches they throw that takes something out of them," Boone said.
Graves' velocity was the best it's been all season despite the limited rest, and he was more effective the longer he pitched. He gave up Brian Giles' two-run homer in the first and worked out of a two-on, none-out jam in the second, but never allowed a runner past first in his final five innings.