The Associated Press

Pittsburgh – Ken Griffey Jr.

Monday, May 01, 2000

Pittsburgh – Ken Griffey Jr. came to Pittsburgh for a four-game series and wound up attending a family reunion. His father and mother grew up in nearby Donora, Pa., so Three Rivers Stadium is clogged daily by various uncles and aunts, cousins and nephews and nieces, some Griffey hasn’t seen in years and some he barely knows.

Each comes to see him hit a home run. Each leaves disappointed when he doesn’t do it.

Griffey made certain they wouldn’t go the whole weekend without something to celebrate, breaking up Todd Ritchie’s shutout bid with a three-run home run Sunday that carried the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-2 victory over the Pirates.

”I anticipated that was going to happen one of these times, that he would hit a home run to put us in front,” Reds manager Jack McKeon said. ”He got a big one.”

Griffey’s grandfather, Curtis, told him he wasn’t leaving Pittsburgh until Griffey homered – and, with the four-game series wrapping up tonight, time was winding down.

”I don’t like to disappoint my grandparents,” Griffey said.

Griffey still isn’t hitting for average in the NL – he has a .217 average – but his power is coming around. Seven of his 20 hits are homers and, despite his low batting average, he ended April with 24 RBIs.

”I’m just trying not to swing at too many bad pitches,” Griffey said. ”The first couple of weeks, I was all over the place. Now, I’m just trying to settle down, I was so anxious the first couple of weeks.

”Now, I somewhat feel comfortable, and I want to go out there and do what I can do. Every day is a learning experience for me. I’m facing guys I’ve never seen.”

Ritchie (1-1) confused Griffey earlier, striking him out twice and getting him on a fly ball. But, with the Pirates leading 2-0 in the seventh inning, Griffey reached over the plate to hit a high fastball into the right-field seats.

”I wasn’t up there looking for a specific pitch,” Griffey said. ”I was trying to hit it hard somewhere, I got it up and hit it out. I wasn’t thinking about expecting this (pitch) or not. I was just seeing it and hitting it.”

Pirates manager Gene Lamont visited the mound before Griffey homered, and Ritchie lobbied strongly to stay in the game.

”I was confident I could get him out,” Ritchie said. ”But he gets paid a lot of money to hit mistakes like that.”

Lamont didn’t think it was a mistake to keep Ritchie in the game.

”Todd’s gotten big outs for us the last two seasons,” Lamont said. ”I wanted him to face Griffey. He had him guessing. Todd is the guy I want pitching in a tough situation like that.”

Griffey’s homer was his third in six games and made a winner of rookie Rob Bell (2-1), who limited the Pirates to two runs and four hits despite walking five in six innings.

”I felt like that’s the best stuff I’ve had since my first start, but I got myself in trouble with walks,” Bell said. ”I can’t remember the last time I walked five. I do something stupid every start to put us in a jam.”

The Pirates threatened to retake the lead in the seventh, but reliever Dennis Reyes got Kevin Young to fly out with runners on first and third to end the inning.

Juan Castro followed with a two-run homer in the Reds’ eighth off Brad Clontz, Castro’s first homer since June 17, 1998.

The Pirates opened a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a pair of walks and Pat Meares’ two-run double, their first hit in 19 at-bats with runners in scoring position in the series.

Notes: Reds LF Dmitri Young was 2-for-3 with two walks and is batting .500 (11-for-22) in the last six games. … The Reds, 12-12 in April, haven’t had a winning April since 1994. They started 9-14 last season before finishing 87-53. … The Reds are 9-0 when they lead after eight innings. … The Pirates have a league-low three saves. … They went 9-15 in April and, like the Reds, haven’t had a winning April since 1994. … Meares has driven in five of the Pirates’ nine runs in the four-game series, which wraps up Monday.