Danny Graves throws a handful of mud after giving up Craig Paquette's three-run home run to in the ninth inning. (Jeff Swinger photos) | ZOOM |

        Friday night's Reds game turned on one pitch, or rather spun like a top on one pitch.

        “Everything was going right until a 1-2 count, two outs in the ninth,” closer Danny Graves said. “Then, on that one pitch, it turned. The fans go from standing and screaming for the game to end, to booing.”

        The one pitch was a big, fat, hanging curveball that Graves threw to Craig Paquette. Paquette crushed it for a three-run home run to give the Cardinals a 5-4 victory before what was left of a crowd of 24,590 on a rainy night at Cinergy.

        Graves was steamed at himself for throwing a curve instead of his best pitch, the sinker, in that situation.

        “I tried to get too tricky,” he said. “If he hits a good sinker and beats me, fine.”

        As hurting as the Reds are, Friday's loss had to make them sick. If ever a team needed a win, it was the Reds. They have lost six straight and nine of 10 at Cinergy. They've lost four in a row overall.

        “They say adversity builds character,” Reds manager Bob Boone said. “If that's true, we've got a lot of character.”

        But all that didn't matter when Paquette hit a blast over the left-field wall for his first career pinch-hit home run.

        Graves was still cursing the ill-fated curve long after the game.

        “I guess you can call it a curve,” he said. “It was a spinner. It kind of floated up there.”

Kelly Stinnett tags out Ray Lankford in the fourth inning. | ZOOM |

        Graves took a 4-2 lead to the ninth. He got the first batter. Then Edgar Renteria and Kerry Robinson hit back-to-back singles. Pinch-hitter Bobby Bonilla flied to deep center, moving Renteria to third. Robinson stole second.

        Graves (2-2) was especially ticked because he blew a save against Houston on May 12 in the same manner. He gave up a three-run, pinch-hit home run to Lance Berkman on a curveball.

        “I should have learned from that,” he said. “As a closer, you shouldn't get beat with your third-best pitch.”

        Friday's loss was the latest sign the Reds' season could be over before it really gets started. The victory moved the Cards to 8 1/2 games ahead of Reds in the National League Central. The game was first of seven over 11 days against the Cards. The Reds, who have three wins in their last 19 games, know going 1-6 or 2-5 in this stretch could break the season.

        It looked like they would start the run with a win — until the very end.

        “A lot of things went right for having a limited roster,” Boone said. “It was going good for a long time.”

        Boone continued to tinker with the lineup — purely out of necessity.

        Alex Ochoa hit leadoff because the Reds had no one else. Consider the other five players who have hit leadoff this year:

        • Barry Larkin is on the disabled list.

        • Pokey Reese was out of the starting lineup for the third straight game with a sore right thumb.

        • Donnie Sadler was scratched with a sore right knee.

        • Deion Sanders is hitting .159.

        • Michael Tucker had five hits in his last 41 at-bats (.122) entering Friday.

Alex Ochoa is greeted by Dmitri Young after his lead-off homer | ZOOM |

        It was the 11th time Ochoa hit leadoff in his career, but the first since Sept.28, 1996.

        He looked like a natural there as he launched the second pitch from St.Louis starter Andy Benes high and deep to left field for his third home run of the year.

        But by the time Ochoa got up, the Reds were already down 1-0.

        After Ochoa's homer, the Cards retook the lead 2-1 in the second.

        The Reds took the lead in the fifth with a three-run rally.

        The bullpen looked like it would save the win for Chris Reitsma (five innings, one earned run) until the ninth. Scott Sullivan pitched two perfect innings. Dennys Reyes, back from his elbow therapy session in Mexico, got the first two outs of the eighth before turning it over to Graves.

        It was Graves' fourth blown save. He has blown leads of three, two, three and two runs in the ninth. His ERA has gone from 0.52 on May 8 to 3.86. If the curve to Paquette had been a little better, it would have gone down instead of up.

        An inning earlier, Graves struck out Albert Pujols, the rookie phenom, with a curve.

        “That was a good one,” Graves said. “The one I threw to Renteria wasn't. I should have known it wasn't working.”

        Paquette had noticed the one to Pujols.

        “He got that one (to me) up,” Paquette said. “With pitching, there's a fine line.”

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