Reds top Indians on walk by Dunn

Adam Dunn’s walk with the bases loaded in the eighth inning sank Cleveland, 4-3.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Adam Dunn homered and drew a tiebreaking walk with the bases loaded in the eighth inning Friday night, sending the Cincinnati Reds to their season-high fourth straight win, 4-3 over the intrastate rival Cleveland Indians.

The Reds got homers from Brandon Phillips and Dunn, then won it with the only run in the game not produced by a homer.

Cincinnati loaded the bases in the eighth on Joey Votto’s double and a pair of walks from Jensen Lewis (0-2), who was pitching in his hometown. Dunn drew a full-count walk to force in the go-ahead run.

David Weathers (1-2) escaped a threat in the eighth, forcing the Indians to strand a runner at third. Francisco Cordero pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.

The interleague series matched two teams from opposite ends of the state and opposite ends of the standings. The Indians lead the AL Central, while the Reds are last in the NL’s counterpart division.

Both have been having problems scoring runs. The Indians have overcome them with exquisite pitching — four shutouts in the last six games.

Left-hander Jeremy Sowers wasn’t up to recent standards.

Phillips’ upper-deck homer emphatically ended Cleveland’s streak of near-perfect pitching in the first inning. The two-run shot off Sowers produced the first earned runs off Indians starters in 52 innings.

For good measure, Phillips did a little skip as he crossed the plate against the team that gave up on him two years ago.

Sowers was called up earlier in the day to make his second start of the season. He has failed to beat the Reds — the team that originally drafted him — in four career starts, going 0-2 while allowing 19 earned runs in 20 innings.

Dunn added a solo shot deep into the Indians’ bullpen in the second inning for a 3-0 lead that looked solid the way rookie Johnny Cueto was dominating. The 22-year-old didn’t allow a hit through the first five innings against a lineup seeing his 95 mph fastball for the first time.

Just like that, he lost his touch.

Cueto gave up a leadoff homer to Casey Blake in the sixth. Designated hitter Travis Hafner, forced to the bench in an NL ballpark, pinch-hit and homered off the right-field foul pole three pitches later.

When Jhonny Peralta also homered to tie it one out later, Cueto angrily threw back his cap, grabbed the resin bag and flung it down.