milton solid

[Wally Mo Pena]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jerry Narron could hardly believe the information.
Sure, between his roles as bench coach and interim manager, Narron had seen every Reds game this season. But he never really noticed the team had yet to win back-to-back games on the road.

"We haven't won two games in a row on the road all year?" he said in amazement before Tuesday night's game. "I hadn't even thought about it."

Then Narron gave it some thought.

"It'll happen," he said. "At some point."

Hours later, the Reds proved him right with a 7-4 win over the Giants at SBC Park.

And as if exorcising the road demons wasn't enough for the Reds, left-hander Eric Milton put up his second straight quality start, creeping ever closer to becoming the pitcher the club expected to see when it signed him to a three-year, $25.5 million contract in the offseason.

Building off his strong outing in last Thursday's rain-shortened tie against the Astros, Milton (4-9) turned in 6 1/3 innings in which he allowed three runs on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

In doing so, he notched his first victory since May 23.

"I'm getting things turned around, and I'm feeling really good out there," Milton said. "I just have to keep doing what I'm doing."

What Milton is doing is inviting his old, forgotten friends -- the legs -- back into his pitching form.

After Milton missed the majority of the 2003 season with the Twins while recovering from surgery on his left knee, he said he grew accustomed to pitching without pushing off his legs.

But when his early outings in a Reds uniform saw his ERA creeping dangerously close to the dreaded 8.00 mark, he decided to give his lower half a shot.

"I guess I picked up something on video and I'm trying to use my lower half more and really drive toward the plate," he said. "I've increased my velocity and kept the ball down more."

Well, it wasn't down all the time. After all, what's an outing from Milton without a little long-ball fun for the other side?

This time, it was Lance Niekro who tagged Milton with a two-run homer in the first inning, putting the Reds in a 2-0 hole.

"Terrible pitch," Milton said of the changeup Niekro hit out. "My fourth-best pitch. You hate to get hurt with that."

But Milton wasn't going to let the hurt worry him.

"I don't think he's going to get fazed by giving up a home run," Narron said with a laugh.

Nah, not after serving up 28 of them this season -- by far the biggest total in baseball.

So Milton kept pitching, and the Reds started hitting.

Joe Randa doubled against left-hander Noah Lowry (5-8) to lead off the second, and Wily Mo Pena knocked him in with the first of his three singles on the day. Adam Dunn then made it a 3-2 game with a two-run shot to right.

Milton couldn't protect the lead, as he let the Giants small ball their way into a 3-3 tie. Jason Ellison doubled, stole third and scored when Lowry grounded out to short.

But that would be all Milton would allow in this one. He went on to retire 12 consecutive batters.

"After the early runs, you want to put up zeros," he said. "You've got to put the runs out of your mind and try to turn it around. I got in a pretty good groove, and that got the team going."

The Reds kept going with Pena's second RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-3. And they sealed the win off Jeff Fassero in the seventh, when Rich Aurilia scored from third on a wild pitch and Randa cranked out an RBI single.

It was a good, old-fashioned hit parade. And it gave Milton all he needed to notch a win that was a long time coming.

"He wants to pitch well," Narron said of Milton. "He wants to show everybody the kind of pitcher he is. And I'm just happy for him that he was able to get a win for us."

It was a road-tested happiness the Reds hadn't experienced since taking three straight at Wrigley Field on Sept. 28-30 of last season.

"It comes back to pitching," Narron said. "You pitch well, and you give yourself a chance to win."

That's information Narron has no trouble believing.

[Wally Mo Pena]

Don Gullet should be embarassed that Milton is figuring things out on his own. I'll let sleeping dogs lie though, this was a positive day for milton, no need to harp on the negative. Hopefully he'll continue to improve. It was great to see him hitting 94 again.

[ghettochild]

thats exactly what he needed, his stiff leg kept his balls up and now i hope he realizes that

[missionhockey21]

Thank god it was just mechanics. When he was topping out at 89 I got really scared, because if he had an injury like what I feared, we would be stuck with that contract for the long haul. Now he just needs to work on hitting his locations...

[Jr's Boy]

I think Vern Ruhle got him on the right track,remember the article about Ruhle stating he learned alot from Nolan Ryan in Texas about how he emphasized building leg strength ,so it would take less pressure of the upper body,thus less arm injuries.Gullett must feel really dumb right now.

[Wally Mo Pena]

I think Vern Ruhle got him on the right track,remember the article about Ruhle stating he learned alot from Nolan Ryan in Texas about how he emphasized building leg strength ,so it would take less pressure of the upper body,thus less arm injuries.

you're right on there, i had forgotten that Ruhle was the big leg strength guy, but that's exactly what he said when he got hired. Good for him, he knows his stuff it would appear. Hopefully he can work well with our other pitchers too, like Wagner. That kid is approaching Bust status at this point.

Narron was saying in the paper how they were going to use this new guy they got early in the bullpen because they have weathers, mercker, and belisle in the back end. Not even a mention of wagner, no one has any faith in his ability anymore. It might be time for another trip down.

[redsrbetter]

Great to see Milton working on getting better. I am really starting to like the Gullet firing and Ruhle hiring. I can't wait to see milton's next start and what Ruhle can do with the rest of our pitchers that are less of what they should be. Imagine if Coffey started throwing 97-98 mph again!

[AdamDunn#44]

now trade him