Cueto in form, but Reds falter

PHILADELPHIA — It wasn’t a vintage Johnny Cueto outing on Tuesday, but he pitched well enough to win — even if his team didn’t back him.

Cueto didn’t figure in the decision, despite leaving the Reds’ bullpen a 4-2 lead after six innings. Jumbo Diaz gave up a two-run homer to Maikel Franco in the eighth after Jay Bruce misplayed what would have been the third out in the inning, and then pinch-hitter Darin Ruf hit a walk-off single in the ninth to give the Phillies a 5-4 victory and snap a three-game winning streak for the Reds and seven-game losing streak for the Phillies.

Odubel Herrera led off the ninth with a double off of Tony Cingrani and was sacrificed to third by Carlos Ruiz. That’s when Ruf fisted a ball to right to give the Phillies the win.

Cueto, who was scratched from his May 24 start with tenderness in his right elbow, threw 93 pitches over six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits.

“He was sharp,” manager Bryan Price said. “He was into it, was feeling it.”

After Ryan Mattheus pitched a perfect seventh for the Reds, Diaz seemed to be on his way to doing the same in the eighth when Ryan Howard hit a line drive to right. Bruce looked like he was going to make the catch, but the ball went just over his glove and gave Howard a double.

“I just couldn’t see it,” Bruce said. “It was a helpless feeling. It’s frustrating, and I don’t know what else I could do. Then the homer afterward put the icing on the cake.”

Meanwhile, Reds outfielder Marlon Byrd suffered a fractured right wrist when he was hit with a pitch by Sean O’Sullivan leading off the sixth. Byrd shook it off and went to first base, and he was replaced in left field in the bottom of the seventh.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.