Reed relishes second chance
PHOENIX -- When Addison Reed got home Monday night, he played with his dogs and hoped for a quick second chance in the ninth inning.
Reed got it Tuesday and responded well, recording his first save as a member of the Diamondbacks in a 5-4 victory over San Francisco -- a day after he gave up a two-run home run in the ninth to take the loss on opening day.
"Short-term memory is probably the best thing you can have as a closer," said Reed, who had 69 saves for the Chicago White Sox the last two seasons.
"It is almost better than having good stuff on a night. It sounds weird, but the more you think about it, the worst it is going to be the next day. It is kind of that snowball effect. I learned the more you think about it, the more doubt you are going to have and the worse off you are going to be. I honestly thought about it (Monday's game) for 10 minutes, honest to God. Went home, played with dogs and forgot about it.
"That's the way I've been handling things the last year and a half, and once I learned to do that it made the job a lot easier."
Reed obviously wanted to get off to a good start with his new team and he is glad another chance came around so quickly.
"Obviously, I want to come out here and show these guys I can handle the ninth inning, but at the same time the more pressure I put on myself, the worse off I am," he said.
"Glad that we had that save opportunity tonight, because I wanted to get back out there as soon as I could. It's always bad when you do bad and have to wait four or five days to get back out there. Once the game started, I was hoping there was going to be a close game."
After Wade Miley shut the Giants down after a four-run first inning and A.J. Pollock doubled in the tying run in the sixth and scoring the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly, the bullpen took over. Will Harris struck out the final two batters he faced in the eighth and Reed pitched around a wind-blown double with one out in the ninth, when shortstop Chris Owings misread a high popup down the left field line.
The Giants last two batters did not put the ball into fair territory. Brandon Crawford fouled out and Juan Perez took a 93 mph fastball for a called third strike.
"It makes the game a little more fun.," Reed said. "It happens. C.O., I guarantee he's going to make 10 plays that are going to save me throughout the year. No harm done there. Everything is good."
Miguel Montero looks to be in a nice groove at the plate, and the Giants seem to have noticed, too. Montero was walked three times, once intentionally, on Tuesday, and he has reached base in 10 of his 18 plate appearances this season. He has five hits, including a home run, ad four walks.
15 -- consecutive batters retired by Wade Miley after giving up a three-run home run to Brandon Belt in the first inning
* Paul Goldschmidt's two-season, two-continent hitting streak reached 23 with his double in the first inning, part of a two-run rally that immediately got the D-backs back in the game. Next up: Tony Womack, who had a 24-game streak in 2000.
* Brandon Belt has hit six of his last 19 homers against the D-backs after connecting in the first inning.
* It does not go down as a quality start, but it was one. Wade Miley got back to challenging hitters after nibbling in the first inning, and the results showed as he retired 19 of the last 22 batters he faced while keeping the D-backs in the game. He got the final two outs of the seventh with runners on second and third, and manager Kirk Gibson called Miley the best he has seen in getting out of late trouble.
* Will Harris got the first chance to hold a lead in the eighth inning, and he struck out the final two batters he faced to preserve a 5-4 lead. The D-backs are searching for a replacement for nominal eighth-inning setup man David Hernandez, who will miss the season after undergoing successful Tommy John surgery Tuesday.
Paul Goldschmidt did a nice job of cutting the corner at third base while scoring from second on a Martin Prado double in the first. Goldschmidt saved himself a step or two with his cornering, and beat the play by about that much.
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