Before Friday night's game, Reds manager Bob Boone was talking about Adam Dunn's first week in the big leagues when he said: “One of these days he's going to connect with one of those he's just missing, and we're going to see it go a long way.”

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Adam Dunn hits his first HR. (AP photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

Dunn's first HR went 425 feet. (Jeff Swinger photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

Dunn receives congratulations from Sean Casey. (Jeff Swinger photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

        A few hours later, Dunn connected and it did go a long way — 425 feet into the green-seat level above right-center field. The home run, Dunn's first in the big leagues, got the Reds rolling in a 10-5 victory over the Florida Marlins before a crowd of 26,058 at Cinergy Field.

        “It was just a relief to get it,” Dunn said. “I'm happy to get it over with.”

        Dunn, the 21-year-old right fielder, hit 32 homers in the minor leagues before being promoted to the Reds on July 20. Most of the walk-up crowd of 3,000 fans Friday — a strong number — were there to see him hit his first in the bigs.

        It came in the third inning. He struck out with a mighty swing on his first at-bat in the first inning against Florida's Matt Clement.

        “He threw two sliders down and in,” Dunn said. “Then he threw me a fastball that would have been head high to Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), and I swung.

        The second time up, Dunn jumped on the first pitch from Clement.

        “I got a good pitch and got good wood on it,” Dunn said.

        As soon as bat met ball, you knew it was gone.

        “It didn't take that one long to leave,” Reds manager Bob Boone said.

        They usually don't when a 6-foot-6, 250-pound man with great bat speed hits them. The homer broke a 2-2 tie and seemed to break open the Reds' offense.

        Aaron Boone also had a home run and drove in four runs for the Reds. Todd Walker had two hits and three RBI. Dunn added an RBI single and walked twice.

        The Reds won for the third time in four games.

Aaron Boone tags out Kevin Millar at third. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Lance Davis (4-1) won his third consective start. The 24-year-old rookie left-hander went 5 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs.

        He is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA since the All-Star break. He has walked only one batter in his last 17 1/3 innings.

        “I just try to pour strikes in there,” he said. “I felt pretty good. But I got tired real quick tonight.”

        Stat of the night: Danny Graves got his 18th save — the first save at home for the Reds since May 1.

        Boone put the Reds up 2-0 when he followed Sean Casey's single with his 12th home run of the year.

        Davis, who retired the first six batters he faced, ran into trouble in the third, allowing a pair of runs.

Jason LaRue congratulates Danny Graves after the last out. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Dunn's home run put the Reds back up 3-2.

        The Reds added three in the fifth, two in the seventh and two in the eighth.

        It was second time in three games that they've hit double figures. In the 99 games before that, they hit double figures a total of three times.

        Getting Dunn and Walker in the lineup seems to have picked up things offensively for the Reds.

        “There seems to be more energy,” Davis said. “Dunn's an enthusiastic guy. That rubs off.”

        Dunn has hit safely in all seven games he has played with the Reds. He seems to take everything in stride. That's why Bob Boone wasn't concerned about Dunn playing at Cinergy for the first time.

        “I didn't give it a thought,” Boone said. “He's got a lot of poise. He's been like that since we signed him. When you're as talented as he is, it's pretty easy to have poise.”

        Dunn was geniunely pleased to get the home-run ball back.

        Dan Heidrich, a 19-year-old from Taylor Mill, Ky., jumped the fence by the outfield cutout to retrieve it. Reds publicity director Rob Butcher tracked him down. Heidrich gladly gave up the ball. He said he just wanted to meet Dunn, but Dunn gave him an autographed bat and ball.

        “I really appreciate it,” Dunn said. “He doesn't know how much that ball means to me.”

        Dunn planned to give the ball to his dad, Skip, who saw Adam play as a big-leaguer for the first time Friday.

        “He keeps all that stuff,” Adam said.

        Look like there will be a lot of it to keep.

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