Juan Encarnacion, right, is back in time while St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Tino Martinez reaches with the late tag. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        ST. LOUIS — Stop us if you've heard this one before. With Chris Reitsma pitching, the Reds couldn't score many runs. With men in scoring position, the Reds couldn't get any hits. It's become a familiar formula.

        Throw in a late baserunning blunder by Reggie Taylor, and on Friday it added up to a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, an end to a three-game winning streak and a lost game in the standings. The Reds dropped two games behind St. Louis in the National League Central.

        Taylor, one of the heroes of Thursday's dramatic win over the Cubs in Chicago — his two-run triple tied the game in the ninth inning — had a tougher time Friday. He hit into a double play with runners on the corners to end the third inning, then fouled out with the bases loaded to end the sixth.

        And in the ninth, while at second base with one out and pinch-hitter Austin Kearns at the plate, Taylor inexplicably took off for third and was thrown out by St. Louis catcher Mike Matheny. Taylor's gaffe was compounded when Kearns followed with a single up the middle that would have scored the tying run.

        Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen then struck out Todd Walker to end the game, earning his 17th save of the season.

Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “I got a good jump,” Taylor said. “It's a gamble. It turns out I lost the ballgame. If I make it safe, it's a great play. If I'm out, it's the worst play in the world.

        “You learn something every day in this game. Yesterday I drive in the tying runs; today, I make a mistake and it cost us the game.”

        Manager Bob Boone, who did not give Taylor the green light to try to steal, had a discussion with Taylor in the dugout afterward. Well, sort of a discussion. “A monologue,” Boone said.

        Said third base coach Tim Foli: “He knows he's got to be safe. He had a good jump. If you know you can take it, you do it, but you've got to make sure you're safe so the ump can't get it wrong.”

        A day after coming up with all the clutch hits in Chicago, the Reds were back to struggling with runners in scoring position, and it wasn't just Taylor. Juan Encarnacion's two-run homer in the fourth inning represented all their offense. Three times, the Reds got a runner as far as third base, and none scored.

Juan Encarnacion (34) is congratulated by Sean Casey at home plate after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        In the eighth, with Reds at the corners and two outs, another of Thursday's heroes, Russell Branyan, stood in. But Branyan struck out swinging against lefty reliever Steve Kline, then snapped his bat in two across his knee in frustration.

        Boone said he considered using the right-handed Kearns to pinch-hit for the left-handed Branyan, but opted against it.

        “Left-handers hit Kline pretty good,” Boone said, “and Branyan hits left-handers pretty good. I felt pretty comfortable with Branyan at bat.”

        Branyan's strikeout left him 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position as a Red, and his misery loves company. The Reds are 12- for-103 with runners in scoring position over their last 14 games, and rank last in the majors for the season (.212) in that category.

        The Reds' hitting woes have seemed to hurt Reitsma the most. The right-hander (3-6), whose luck generally runs from bad to worse, again pitched just well enough to lose (6 1/3 innings, eight hits, three earned runs).

Reggie Taylor, left, and St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Placido Polanco wait for the umpire's call on Taylor's attempted steal of in the ninth. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The Reds are 0-7 in Reitsma's last seven starts. They have scored just 16 runs in those seven games, and just 11 in the last six.

        Reitsma fared well against the bottom of the St.Louis lineup (1-for-15), but was roughed up by the first four: Fernando Vina, Placido Polanco, Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols (7-for-11, two walks). Back-to-back doubles by Vina and Polanco in the seventh gave St. Louis its 3-2 lead.

        “He (Reitsma) did a terrific job,” Boone said. “He just left those two balls up at the end.”

        Pujols, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, continued to wreck the Reds, going 2-for-2 with two walks and two RBI. Pujols is hitting .429 against the Reds this season.

        Winning pitcher Jason Simontacchi (6-1) improved to 2-0 against the Reds.

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