HOUSTON — The Houston Astros aren't a team you want to get behind against late in the game. With Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner in the bullpen, the Astros don't often blow late leads.

Lance Davis forced in three runs in the fourth with a HBP and two walks. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        In fact, they were 63-1 when leading after eight innings entering Tuesday's game against the Reds.

        Make it 64-1.

        The Astros scored two runs in the seventh, then turned it over to Dotel and Wagner. The result was a 6-4 loss for the Reds before a crowd of 31,796 at Enron Field in the opener of the three-game series.

        “As hot as Dotel and Wagner are, you can't give them any extra pops,” Reds manager Bob Boone said.

        The Reds managed only three hits after the second inning — two of them Dmitri Young solo homers.

        Dotel pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, striking out two. Wagner pitched the ninth for his 31st save.

        Lance Davis started for the Reds. He went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. The Astros scored all four of those runs in the fourth.

        The Reds scored a run in the first and another in the second.

        Todd Walker hit the first pitch of the game off the wall in left center for a double. An out later, Ken Griffey Jr. drove him home.

        Juan Castro and Jason LaRue got the second going with back-to-back hits. Davis got them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, and Castro scored on Walker's groundout.

        At that point, Astros starter Wade Miller (14-7) looked very hittable. But he settled down after the second.

        Davis' control, or lack thereof, led to four runs in the second.

        Three singles got the Astros one run. Miller tried to bunt the runners over from first and second. Davis fielded the bunt, but no one was covering first (second baseman Walker should have been). That loaded the bases.

        Then Davis got a little out of control. He hit Craig Biggio with a pitch to force in a run. He then walked Julio Lugo and Jeff Bagwell to force in two more. Control problems are uncharacteristic for Davis, who had been averaging only 1.2 walks per start. Biggio was the first batter he has hit this season.

        “He struggled a little and got in trouble,” Boone said. “Then he was trying to throw the perfect pitch.”

        The lapse of control made it 4-2. Young made it 4-3 by hitting his 16th home run, leading off the third. Young made it 4-4 by hitting his 17th homer, leading off the sixth. It was the second time in his career Young has hit two home runs in a game.

        “I don't know how to explain it,” said Young, who had missed the previous five games with a tight right hamstring. “My focus was there because we were facing someone the caliber of Wade Miller. I was lucky to get two balls I could drive.”

        Young also made two outstanding plays at third: He bare-handed a nubber off the bat of Vinny Castilla and threw him out. Then he charged Lugo's bunt in the seventh and made a strong, quick throw to get him.

        Bagwell, who just missed homers in the second and fifth (they were foul), hit his 33rd of the season in the seventh off Jim Brower to make it 5-4.

        “It was a change-up,” Brower said. “It was right down the middle. At that point, you can't make a mistake. He's a guy who gets paid to hit mistakes.”

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