This is the Ken Griffey Jr. fans remember. The fluid tracking of flyballs. The effortless power swings. The toothy grin.
All were on display Friday night as the Cincinnati Reds ruined the Rockies’ return from the all-star break with a 4-3 victory at Great American Ballpark.
“People have to understand that I didn’t forget how to play baseball,” Griffey said. “I have just been hurt.”
With the two teams a combined 43 games under. 500, humidity, not electricity, was the only thing in the air before the first pitch. Griffey changed that, turning the game into a breathless highlight reel.
As Todd Helton put it, “He took over the game.”
Griffey made a beautiful over-the- shoulder catch in the second inning, robbing Luis Gonzalez of two RBIs. He homered in the sixth, rifling a 91-mph fastball into the right-field sets. And he erased Eddy Garabito, who briefly froze on a two-out single, at the plate in the seventh.
“I think he’s trying to make the all-century team in two centuries,” Reds manager Jerry Narron said.
Griffey’s exploits spoiled a strong effort from Rockies starter Jason Jennings. Building on last Saturday’s 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres, Jennings surrendered just two runs on five hits in seven innings.
“I am not here to pitch well, I am here to win,” Jennings said. “It’s frustrating.”
Jennings couldn’t prevent the Rockies from falling to 7-33 on the road, matching the worst road start of any team since the 1982 Minnesota Twins.
Any chance of a comeback evaporated when Adam Dunn blasted an eighth-inning, two-run homer off struggling left-handed reliever Bobby Seay, who was working for the first time since losing feeling in his thumb a week ago.
Seay’s misstep rendered Jorge Piedra’s two-run, ninth-inning homer useless.
“I wish I could have one pitch back,” Seay said. “My mistake cost us the game.”
