Denver – Ken Griffey Jr. hit career home run No. 575 and Bobby Livingston allowed seven hits in 6 2-3 innings for his first major league win as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Friday night.
Griffey’s solo shot to right-center in the first off Taylor Buchholz was his 12th of the season. Griffey remains in eighth place on the all-time list. Mark McGwire is seventh with 583 homers.
Alex Gonzalez hit a two-run homer to left off Buchholz in the fourth, his 11th of the season.
Livingston (1-0) was called up from Triple-A Louisville on Monday and was making his second career start. He gave up one unearned run and a walk. Livingston also had a two-out, RBI single in the fourth.
David Weathers pitched 1 1-3 innings for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.
Buchholz (2-3) lasted 6 2-3 innings, allowing six hits and four runs. He gave up Barry Bonds’ 746th homer on Sunday.
Matt Holliday’s single in the first extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He was taken out in the fifth after suffering a head contusion in the dugout. The Rockies said he is day-to-day. He was replaced in left by Ryan Spilborghs.
Willy Taveras was back in the Rockies lineup after smashing his right index finger Monday on a bunt attempt. He used a glue-like substance to keep his fingernail from falling off.
Taveras had a bunt single in the third, his major league-leading 14th bunt hit of the season, and finished 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Colorado scored a run in the eighth on a two-out single by Taveras. The Rockies scored another in the seventh when shortstop Gonzalez misplayed Todd Helton’s two-out, bases-loaded slow roller for an error. Jon Coutlangus came on and got Jeff Baker to ground out to end the inning.
Colorado stranded 12 runners in the game.
Garrett Atkins, who’s hitting .159 over his last 22 games, won’t start for a few days. Colorado manager Clint Hurdle is hoping the time off will do him some good. Atkins came on as a pinch hitter in the eighth and walked.
“He needs a different look,” Hurdle said. “Sometimes when you rearrange the furniture in your house, you have to find a different way across the room. I’ll give him a couple of days to refresh or rekindle and then we’ll get back at it.”
Notes: Josh Hamilton (stomach infection) is not expected to join the Reds in Denver. Manager Jerry Narron said he would probably be available Tuesday in St. Louis. … Colorado finished May with a winning record (15-13) for the first time since 2002. … Rockies OF Brad Hawpe’s 10-game hitting streak ended with an 0-for-3 night. … A walk to Hawpe in the sixth was the first issued by a Reds starter in 36 1/3 innings.
