In Sunday's 4-1 loss to New York, back spasms put third baseman Edwin Encarnacion out of the game in the third inning, forcing Baker to move Jeff Keppinger from shortstop to third while also inserting Paul Janish at short.

In the top of the eighth inning with a runner on second and two outs, Baker went for broke and called for pinch-hitter Javier Valentin to bat for Janish against closer Mariano Rivera. Normally, it'd be the sound move, especially since Janish has been overmatched at the plate lately.

But the problem was that there were no infielders left on the bench. Before the game, backup Andy Phillips was designated for assignment to make room for Keppinger's activation from the 15-day disabled list.

It didn't matter.

"At that point, we were trying to put some points on the board against a very tough guy," Baker said.

Valentin grounded out to Rivera and went into the game in the bottom of the eighth at third base, as Keppinger moved back to shortstop. Valentin, the Reds' third-string catcher, borrowed Encarnacion's glove for his first big league appearance at third.

" said if he needed a pinch-hitter for Janish, I'd have to play third," Valentin said. "I said, 'Find me a glove.' I'm not going to say, 'No.' It's not too easy, but I'd just try to react."

Valentin, who said he played some third base in the Minors during the 2002 season, didn't have to field any grounders in his one inning in the field.

As for Encarnacion, the Reds are hoping that he won't need a trip to the disabled list. He got hurt after making a spectacular leaping catch on Robinson Cano's inning-ending line drive in the third.

"Before the game, I had a little bit of pain, and I felt it more when I swung in the game," Encarnacion said. "After I caught that ball and came down, I couldn't move my back. It was a muscle. We're going to see . We're off and that's a good thing."

Despite dealing five superb innings for one of his best outings of an up-and-down rookie season, Johnny Cueto was trumped by Mother Nature with a 56-minute rain delay that knocked him out of the game.

Cueto (5-8) gave up one earned run and four hits without a walk and seven strikeouts. Just before heavy thundershowers hit the area, Jason Giambi led off with a single to center field and went to third on Jorge Posada's double in the fifth. Robinson Cano's sacrifice fly to deep center field scored Giambi and broke a scoreless tie.

After the Reds batted in the top of the sixth, the skies opened and Cueto did not return. The right-hander threw only 75 pitches, 50 for strikes.

"They told us it would be a 15-minute delay; if it was only 15 minutes, he could have gone back out," Baker said. "The longer it went, the less chance there was he'd come back out. He was humming right along. When you sit around that long, you don't want to take a chance on hurting the young man, either."

Reliever Gary Majewski began the sixth when play resumed, and he combined with lefty Jeremy Affeldt to give up three two-out hits. Affeldt gave up Giambi's two-run double and Posada's RBI double.

The Reds were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Sunday, as Yankees starter Andy Pettitte (8-5) threw six scoreless innings before the rain came. In the fourth, with the bases loaded and one out, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce struck out to end the threat.

In the sixth with runners on first and second, Janish couldn't get a bunt down and popped up to Posada. Votto struck out, which ended another rally. Two more runners were stranded vs. Rivera in the ninth.

"We wanted this one today badly," Baker said. "It's hard to sweep these guys here, but we still had some action late in that ballgame."

The only positive Reds offensive moment came in the eighth, when Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-out solo home run into the right-field seats off Yankees reliever Kyle Farnsworth. It was Griffey's eighth homer of the season and No. 601 for his career. Farnsworth became the 384th different pitcher whom Griffey has homered against.

In a stunning moment, the announced partisan crowd of 54,234 fans at Yankee Stadium gave Griffey a standing ovation as he rounded the bases.

"People here know their baseball," said Griffey, who hadn't homered since June 9. "When they see somebody do something good, whether it's for their team or the other team, they're going to root for it. It was nice to see."