The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Arroyo earns 10th victory

Red-hot Encarnacion has four hits, including a homer, in Reds’ 4-0 win over Brewers.

Cincinnati Reds starter Bronson Arroyo pitches against the Milwuakee Brewers in the second inning of a baseball game, Friday, July 17, 2009, in Cincinnati.

Associated Press photo by Al Behrman Cincinnati Reds starter Bronson Arroyo pitches against the Milwuakee Brewers in the second inning of a baseball game, Friday, July 17, 2009, in Cincinnati.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Archdeacon: Manning puts 'Eli' in Elite
2/6/12
Miami wins its second straight
2/5/12
Sullinger, Buford help No. 3 OSU beat Wisconsin
2/4/12
RedHawks seek to keep momentum going
2/4/12
Ex-OSU player faces off against New England in Super Bowl
2/4/12
> More sports headlines

By Hal McCoy, Staff Writer Updated 12:55 AM Saturday, July 18, 2009

CINCINNATI — There was bigger news in Milwaukee than the Brewers losing a baseball game in Great American Ball Park to the Cincinnati Reds. The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile ran into a house.

The Brewers? They ran into Bronson Arroyo on one of his good days — no runs and five hits over seven innings, recording his 10th victory as the Reds shut down the Brewers, 4-0.

And they ran into the scorching bat of third baseman Edwin Encarnacion, who contributed three singles and a home run — four of his team's nine hits.

The Brewers, perhaps shaken by the news that the wienermobile crashed in their town, committed two errors that led to three unearned runs before Encarnacion's home run became the game's first and only earned run.

Arroyo is on a streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings and when asked the difference between now and when he was being pounded in the early innings, he smiled and said, "Luck. A couple of balls that Prince Fielder hit could have been home runs with just a pinch more of the wind blowing out. Just call me a roller coaster."

Right now he is The Beast from Kings Island.

And Encarnacion is 7 for 7 in the series.

"Just keep on coming, Eddie. I don't think I've seen a player gain 100 points on his average so fast," said manager Dusty Baker after Encarnacion went from .127 while on the disabled list to .227.

'Having that big righthanded bat in the middle of the order is big and it's how we had it planned in the beginning, but it didn't work," Baker added.

There was a bizarre set of circumstances in the top of the seventh when Arroyo had the bases loaded and one out.

Baker walked to the mound, ostensibly to remove Arroyo, who had thrown 108 pitches.

Even relief pitcher Nick Masset thought he was in the game and barged through the bullpen gate. But he had to go back.

Arroyo talked his way into staying.

"He asked me how I was feeling and I said, 'Still strong,'" said Arroyo. "He sensed I wasn't laboring a whole lot. He gave me the ball and it could have worked out bad, but it worked out good."

Baker said he was an exploratory mission when he left the dugout and said, "I like to look in their eyes and you can see a lot in the eyes. I said, 'You feeling strong?' He said, 'Yeah,' so I said, 'Let's get 'em.'

"Bronson is a tough read sometimes because his pitch count doesn't really mean as much as other guys because he doesn't exert as much effort," Baker added.

He threw one more pitch the entire game.

Ryan Braun grounded to third and Encarnacion threw to second for the force on Mike Cameron. Cameron's hard slide past second base took Brandon Phillips out of the play so he couldn't throw to first. Umpire Kevin Causey called Cameron for interference and called Braun out at first, ending the inning.

"He just tried to take me out, did his job, but he just slid too far past the base," said Phillips. "I was way out of the way, but he still hit me. I said to the umpire, 'Hey, hey, hey,' and pointed and he made a great call."

Said Baker, "That was big because they would have scored a run on that play and we would have had to face Prince Fielder with two on. Big play."

With the sudden explosion by Encarnacion, Phillips said there are two extremely important players on the team at the moment, Encarnacion and Willy Taveras.

"Edwin and Willy are the two keys for our offense if they get on a roll," he said. "They're very important, more than anybody else. Edwin is going to drive in runs from down in the order and Willy is going to be the guy to get on base so we can drive him in. That's going to be a big key for us. They do that and Bronson keeps pitching the way he has, we have a chance."