The Cincinnati Reds entered Yankee stadium yesterday seeking a sweep of their 3 game series. Instead, Andy Pettitte pitched 6 innings of shutout baseball en route to a 4-1 New York victory. Pettitte notched his 8th win of the season, while Mariano Rivera earned his 21st save.

“We wanted this one badly, but it’s tough to sweep these guys,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said.

Young phenom Johnny Cueto took the hill for the Reds on Sunday, in a series featuring primarily young pitching (Previously in the series Edinson Volquez and Daryl Thompson got the start for Cincinnati). Cueto went 5 innings (Gary Majewski came on in relief after a rain delay), allowing 4 hits and 1 earned run, but also striking out 7. Cueto didn’t pitch badly in this game, but because of the lack of run support he’d be saddled with his 8th loss of the season.

“I’ve always said, whenever your team doesn’t score and it should, it’s a momentum lift for the other club,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It seems like they always go out and score runs. And Andy has the ability to strike hitters out.”

The one run scored by the Reds came off the bat of Ken Griffey Jr. in the 8th inning, when Kyle Farnsworth served up a fastball right on the outside corner of the plate. Griffey pulled it into short porch for what could be his final ever home run at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s always been fun,” Griffey said. “If you can’t get hyped here, then you can’t do it anywhere.”

The next batter, Brandon Phillips, chopped a ball to the right of the pitching mound. Farnsworth reached out to deflect the ball with his bare hand, and had to leave the game due to injury.

“It happened in A-ball, same exact spot,” Farnsworth said. “If I had time to think about it, there’s no way I would have done it. It happened so quick. Just reaction. … Hopefully I won’t miss any time.”