Bruce's blast beats Bravos

Baseball Betting Lines

06/01/2008 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Bruce continued his scorching first week in the majors, going 2-for-3 with a solo homer and an RBI single, and the Reds capped a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves with a 6-2 win.

Ken Griffey Jr., who belted career home run No. 599 on Saturday, remained one shy of the 600 club, but did go 2-for-3 and scored a run. Johnny Cueto (4-5) didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning, and finished up letting up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in seven frames.

Bruce has gone 13-for-22 with two home runs -- the first a game-ending shot in Saturday's 8-7, 10-inning win -- since being called up.

Adam Dunn also homered for the Reds, who swept the Braves in Cincinnati for the first time in 12 years, and have won five of six overall.

Tim Hudson (7-4) let up seven hits and four runs -- three earned -- with three strikeouts and three walks in seven-plus innings. Hudson left in the seventh with a strained left hamstring. Back-to-back homers by Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann in the seventh provided the only offense for the Braves, who went 1-5 on a road trip through Cincinnati and Milwaukee to fall to 7-21 on the road.

The Reds pulled away with three runs in the seventh. Edwin Encarnacion led off with a single to left, and Hudson pulled up lame after that pitch, limping around the mound and doubling over before leaving. A Paul Bako sac bunt, and a Yunel Escobar throwing error put runners at the corners, and Jerry Hairston Jr. executed a suicide squeeze bunt, plating one insurance run.

Bruce followed with a single to left, scoring another run. Griffey was issued an intentional walk, and Buddy Carlyle then walked Brandon Phillips before a wild pitch that allowed Bruce to score. Carlyle got out of the jam by intentionally walking Dunn to load the bases and getting Joey Votto to fly out to left, but the damage was already done.

The Braves got two men on with two outs in the ninth against Jared Burton, but pinch-hitter Ruben Gotay grounded out to first to end the game.

Dunn gave the Reds the early advantage with his lead-off blast in the second, a drive to the stands in right. Bruce gave the Reds a 2-0 lead with his second home run in as many days, a solo shot to right with one out in the third.

Griffey followed with a double to right, and came home on a Phillips double to center. Phillips was thrown out trying to head to third, though, and Dunn grounded out to end the inning.

Cueto breezed through the first five innings, retiring 19 of the first 20 batters, and no-hitting the Braves until Gregor Blanco reached on a bunt to lead off the sixth. The Atlanta lineup sprung to life in the seventh, though, on consecutive solo shots by Teixeira and McCann.

After a Chipper Jones groundout to start the frame, Teixeira went deep to right, his eighth of the season. McCann followed with another long fly ball to right, his 10th of the campaign, slicing the Cincinnati lead to 3-2. Jeff Francoeur roped a double to left, but Cueto bore down, getting Greg Norton to foul out and Blanco to fly out to center to hold the lead.

Game Notes

Hudson will be evaluated on Monday. Braves reliever Blaine Boyer left with an undisclosed injury later in the seventh after recording one out...The Reds have won 12 of 13 at home...The Braves were last swept in Cincinnati from September 2-4, 1996...This was Hudson's first career loss to the Reds. He had been 3-0 against the club.

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Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

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Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

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