Reds Win 2 straight!

NEW YORK — About the only thing that went on the wrong track for Reds pitcher Daryl Thompson’s Major League debut on Saturday was his commute to Yankee Stadium.

Thompson and fellow rookies Jay Bruce and Paul Janish took the No. 4 subway in the wrong direction from the team hotel. Instead of heading north to the Bronx, they went south to Brooklyn.

“Maybe they thought they were going to Ebbets Field or something,” Reds manager Dusty Baker joked.

“That’s why I got here late,” said Thompson, who lugged his own equipment bag on the train. “It was kind of a bad impression on the first day.”

Although frequently on the edge of derailing with several tight jams, Thompson wound up making a great impression with five scoreless innings. Because Cincinnati’s lineup was late getting out of the station, the outing was a no-decision for the rookie right-hander. The Reds scored four in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth for a 6-0 win over the Yankees.

“He gave us a fine performance,” Baker said. “He was probably overthrowing a little bit in the beginning. He was a little excited. He showed good velocity.”

Thompson, a 22-year-old right-hander promoted from Triple-A Louisville for the start, gave up four hits and four walks with two strikeouts. Throwing 94- to 96-mph fastballs, he put the leadoff man on base in each of his first four innings, but he managed to keep posting zeros.

Before this season, Thompson only had Class A level experience and just four Triple-A starts in 2008. All of sudden, he’s on the biggest stage in baseball, doing his job before a sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd of 54,509.

There was definitely excitement, but how about the pressure?

“I haven’t slept in three days,” Thompson said. “I was so excited thinking about going up against the Yankees lineup. This morning, I woke up at 4 a.m., 5 o’clock and have been up since. I haven’t eaten — one little piece of sausage and that was it.”

If it wasn’t tough enough already, Thompson tempted fate by giving the Yankees’ potent lineup numerous chances to beat him. No situation was tighter than the second inning.

After Alex Rodriguez hit a leadoff double, Thompson was late covering first base on Hideki Matsui’s grounder to Joey Votto. Matsui was credited with an infield single, and Jason Giambi’s walk loaded the bases with no outs. It brought out Baker, who visited the mound.

“I just said, ‘Hey man, same game, different place,’” Baker said. “‘Pitch your game and do what you can do.’ I told him to take a couple of deep breaths and calm himself down and slow down.”

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The Reds play again today (Sunday) at 1 p.m EST at Yankee Stadium