AP Photos OHAB101-105

AP Photos OHAB101-105
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Jason LaRue was thinking like a catcher when he came to bat with the game on the line.
What would the guy on the mound throw next? Fastball? Slider? Something off the plate? Something up and in? A simple strike to get ahead in the count?
The Cincinnati catcher thought about the options, correctly guessed what was coming and hit it into the stands for the Reds' latest dramatic win Tuesday night.
His two-run shot in the eighth inning off Roberto Hernandez sent the Reds to a 9-8 victory over the Atlanta Braves that came down to one good guess and one bad pitch.
"I was just looking for something over the plate. I thought he might throw me a slider on the first pitch," LaRue said.
The Reds seem to guess right whenever the game's on the line in the late innings. Eleven of their 23 victories have come in their final at-bat, when they've become very adept at turning a pitcher's mistake into a decisive homer.
Hernandez (3-1) made the mistake this time, hanging a slider right where LaRue was waiting for one.
"I wish I could get a pitch like that to hit," Hernandez said.
The Braves have gotten their share. They've got baseball's best record at 31-14 because their strong offense has been able to overcome uncharacteristically average pitching.
Andruw Jones hit a solo homer and Vinny Castilla had a solo shot and a three-run homer that tied it in the eighth inning and overshadowed another poor performance by Greg Maddux.
The four-time Cy Young Award winner has been extremely average so far. He gave up nine hits and seven runs in only four innings Tuesday, and was in line for his third straight loss until the Braves made their late rally.
Maddux lost his first three starts of the season for the first time in his career, then appeared to be regaining his touch. He has regressed, although manager Bobby Cox thinks that small strike zones have something to do with it.
"His stuff's there. He just can't get anything (called a strike) on the corner," said Cox, who was ejected in the third inning for arguing ball-and-strike calls with plate umpire Bill Welke. "All you've got to do is look at the replays."
The replays will show that Maddux gave up a two-run single in the first to Austin Kearns and another two-run single by Kearns an inning later.
Ken Griffey Jr. then hit a hanging changeup for a two-run homer in the fourth, his first since he returned a week ago from a dislocated shoulder.
"I go over tonight's game, and the last thing I'm going to do is lie to myself. I thought I threw the ball pretty good," Maddux said. "Sometimes there's such a difference between how you pitch and the results you get."
Scott Sullivan (5-0) took over in the eighth and gave up the three-run homer by Castilla, the Braves' hottest hitter. Castilla is 8-for-13 in his last three games with five homers and nine RBIs.
Scott Williamson gave up Rafael Furcal's solo homer in the ninth that cut it to 9-8, and let the Braves get runners to first and third before he struck out Jones to end yet another wild Reds win.
"I don't think any of us was surprised by it because we've been doing it all year," Kearns said.
Notes: The Braves are 6-2 on a 10-game trip that is their longest of the season. ... 2B Marcus Giles left after fouling a ball off his left calf in the first inning. ... Kearns extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games on his 23rd birthday. ... The Reds lead the NL with 71 homers and have hit one in 14 consecutive games, their best such streak since the 1950s. The 1956 team homered in 21 straight, the 1955 team homered in 17 in a row, and the 1953 Reds also homered in 14 straight.