Paul Janish didn’t know who got him -- Kent Mercker and Jeremy Affeldt argued whether it was Ryan Freel or Paul Bako -- but no matter who bloodied Janish’s nose, it was certainly worth it.

In his second career big league at-bat, Janish singled pinch runner Johnny Cueto home and gave the Reds a 7-6 victory over the Florida Marlins in 10 innings.

"I got crushed, someone got me pretty good in the nose," Janish said. "I actually had a bloody nose after it. I'd do it all again tomorrow if I could."

Janish got the call to the big leagues about 26 hours earlier when Louisville manager Rick Sweet pulled him for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of the Bats' game and announced to the entire dugout that he was going to the big leagues because the reds lost starting shortstop Jeff Keppinger with a broken kneecap.

Janish didn't start the game on Wednesday, instead he went in as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning with the Reds leading 6-0. Starting shortstop Jerry Hairston Jr. -- who was 3-for-4 with an RBI, two runs and a triple in the place of Keppinger -- went to leftfield, replacing Adam Dunn.

The first two Marlins in the eighth, Cody Ross and Jeremy Hermida, grounded out to Janish.

"I was just hoping I'd get in the game tonight and get the nerves out of the way. That's what happened, I was fortunate to get a couple of ground balls," Janish said. "When I went into the game we had a pretty comfortable lead and I was pretty excited to get in the game, and I wanted to get one just to get it out of the way. I caught it and threw it and got the guy out."

In the bottom of the inning, he flew out to left in his first big league at-bat. After heading back to the dugout, he received a standing ovation from Reds fans behind the dugout.

Janish would be cheered even louder about an hour later.

It looked as if Janish would have to wait for another day to get his first Major League hit. Mike Lincoln worked a perfect eighth with help from Janish, before coming back out for the ninth inning.

The inning started with a single by former Red Jorge Cantu before Lincoln gave up a single and a double for the Marlins' first run of the night. Lincoln then hit Wes Helms to load the bases.

After picking up saves in the first two games of the series, Reds closer Francisco Cordero came in to try to get another.

The first batter he faced, catcher Matt Traenor singled in two runs to make it 6-3. Two batters later, Cody Ross hit a three-run home run to tie the game and give Cordero his first blown save as a Red. The Reds were the last team in baseball without a blown save, partially because they hadn't had many save opportunities.

Cordero blew Bronson Arroyo's shot at his third victory of the season, after Arroyo threw seven shutout innings on just three days rest.

"I felt great. Three days rest, man, I feel better all the time," said Arroyo, who has now started four times on three days rest and is 2-0 with a 2.28 ERA. "Command's there, you feel strong, you haven't had that much time off, and you don't feel like you've been off the mound. I felt good. I was obviously happy with seven zeroes."

Lincoln hadn't appeared in a game since Saturday and Reds manager Dusty Baker was hoping to avoid using Cordero or David Weathers. Weathers had pitched in the Reds three previous games, so Baker kept Lincoln in the game.

"We got some good games out of guys tonight. Everything was going as scripted until the ninth. It goes to show you that game's not over until last out," Baker said. "As Yogi (Berra) said, 'it ain’t over until it's over.' And he ain't lying. I gotta give credit to those guys over there, they don't quit. They've got some guys who can hit and they came back and back."

Jared Burton worked a perfect 10th to get the win.

Marlins reliever Renyel Pinto retired the Reds in the ninth inning and then struck out Joey Votto and Edwin Encarnacion to start the 10th. But Pinto then walked pinch hitter David Ross and Paul Bako on eight straight pitches to bring up Janish.

Baker put Cueto in to pinch run for Ross. Baker was going to put Edinson Volquez in, but Encaracion told him Cueto is faster, so Baker sent him out to second and told him to just not get picked off. ("I'm faster than Cueto," Ross said with mock seriousness after the game. "Me and Cueto on the right field line tomorrow. We're going to race.")

With two strikes, Janish hit the ball into right field, over the head of Helms at first.

"I was doing whatever I could to get the bat on the ball and a lot of times that's the best approach," Janish said. "As soon as it got past the first baseman, there was nobody else there to catch it."

That's when Janish was ambushed by his teammates, pounding him on the helmet, hitting him in the ribs and "a jab to the nose, apparently," Janish said.

Janish said he didn’t even feel it, though, he just noticed he was bleeding and had blood on his pants.

"It's hard to explain," Janish said of the feeling of winning the game for his team in his debut. "I'd like to say I hope it gets better from here, but this is tough to beat."