With 185 career saves under his belt, Reds closer Francisco Cordero knows how fickle success in the ninth inning can be. If anyone else needed reminding that throwing $46 million at an experience closer doesn't guarantee anything, Cordero allowed a three-run homer in the ninth inning on Wednesday as the Reds allowed six runs in the last inning before winning in the 10th.

"It's going to happen," Cordero said following Friday night's 4-3 victory over the Indians. "I don't see anyone perfect -- except for (Eric) Gagne (in 2003). Baseball's been around a long time, and that's the only time it happened. Nobody's perfect."

Cordero may not be perfect, but he certainly looked it on Friday. After Adam Dunn earned a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie, Cordero came in to close out the game.

The big right-hander got third baseman Casey Blake and second baseman Jamey Carroll to strike out looking before getting centerfiedler Grady Sizemore swinging to end the game.

"I was pretty good -- I wasn't perfect," Cordero said. "But I was pretty good. That's all that matters."

How far from perfect was Cordero? Well, he did throw six balls and let Sizemore foul off a ball with two strikes. Besides that? Perfect.

It was a far cry from his outing on Wednesday against the Marlins. Against Florida, Mike Lincoln had already allowed one run in and left the bases loaded for Cordero and a five-run lead. Cordero allowed a hit to score two runs and then a three-run homer to push the game to extra innings, where the Reds picked up the victory.

"I'm sure it's been on his mind, but the life of a closer is to forget yesterday," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "The best closers I've seen come back like yesterday never happened. Or whatever day that was. And he was sharp tonight."

One of Cordero's two young protégés, Johnny Cueto, was sharp early for the Reds, no-hitting the Indians through five innings. But Cueto gave up back-to-back home runs to Blake and pinch hitter Travis Hafner to lead off the sixth inning. Jhonny Peralta added another home run to tie the game at 3 before Cueto walked another batter and catcher Victory Martinez reached on the first of first baseman Joey Votto's two errors on the night. However, Cueto struck out Ben Francisco and got Ryan Garko to ground out to end the inning.

"He was still throwing strikes, it was just bad strikes," Baker said. "But they know what to do with bad strikes. He got out of a jam there, got back in the dugout and gave us a chance to win."

Cueto struck out seven and walked two, while allowing only the three home runs for three hits and three runs in six innings.

The Reds came back against Indians reliever Jensen Lewis, an Anderson High School graduate, on a walk to Brandon Phillips, a bloop double by Votto and a walk to Edwin Encarnacion.
Adam Dunn, who hit his eight home run of the season in the second inning, fouled off two two-strike pitches before working the walk from Lewis, scoring Phillips.

"For me, I can't be put in a better situation," said Dunn, who now has 30 walks on the seaso. "A packed house, everyone's on their feet, the eighth inning, that's why you play the game. That was great. It was awesome, so much fun. If we had an at-bat like that every night, I'd love to be the guy, because that's fun."

The Reds have now won four consecutive games -- all against first-place teams. It was the second game in a row where the Reds allowed their opponent to tie the game, but still managed to win in their last at-bat.

"Close games bring teams closer together, because they all have to fight. Close games also stir momentum or they carry momentum," said reliever Jeremy Affeldt, a member of last year's NL champion Colorado Rockies. "Hopefully today was a day to carry it. It was a big win for us."