Jimmy Haynes gave up one run on three hits in six innings. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        Ken Griffey Jr. had about as productive an 0-for-1 game Tuesday night as you can have.

        Griffey's presence was a huge factor in the Reds' 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 19,884 fans at Cinergy Field. Reds right-hander Jimmy Haynes (11-6) threw his third straight gem since the All-Star break, going six innings and allowing one run on three hits.

        The Reds' offense revolved around Griffey, who was hitting fourth, between Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns.

        “I saw more strikes tonight,” Dunn said. “It's a different mind-set. They don't want to pitch to him.”

        Griffey walked three times, twice intentionally, after Dunn hits. Kearns made the Pirates pay with an RBI each time.

        “Who wouldn't walk Junior to pitch to me?” Kearns asked.

Ken Griffey Jr. is safe at third as Pirates 3B Aramis Ramirez bobbles the throw in the sixth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Griffey was glad to help.

        “We scored,” he said. “That's the important thing. A.K. got the job done. The important thing is for me to get on base.”

        Dunn had three hits and scored three runs; Kearns had three hits and four RBI.

        With Haynes' gem, it added up to a nice and easy win in a game the Reds could ill afford to lose. The Reds had lost three of their four coming in and have fallen a season-high 4 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. The Cardinals won 4-0 at San Francisco late Tuesday night.

        “Dunn, Griffey and Kearns did some damage,” Reds manager Bob Boone said. “They started pounding the ball. We had a little fun.”

        Haynes has given up four runs on 12 hits in 18 innings since the break. He is 8-1 with a 3.30 ERA in his last 12 starts.

        “Jimmy's stepped up,” Boone said. “He's turning into (an ace). Early in the year, he'd have a good inning, then a soft inning. But he's really developed.”

Reggie Taylor trots home after his sixth-inning HR. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Todd Walker led off with a single into right field. An out later, Dunn made it second and third by doubling into the left-field corner. Griffey was intentionally walked to load the bases.

        Kearns got the one run in with a line shot off the leg of Pittsburgh starter Kip Wells (10-7). The rally fizzled from there, but the pattern was set.

        In the fifth, Dunn doubled to right with one out. The Pirates intentionally walked Griffey again, and it worked about as well as it did in the first. Kearns doubled into the left-center gap to score Dunn.

        “Any time they walk someone intentionally in front of you, it makes you try a little harder,” Kearns said.

        The Pirates finally scored off Haynes in the sixth. Jack Wilson smoked a 3-2 fastball for his fourth home run of the year — a shot to left that bounced off the replica of Ted Kluszewski's jersey about 25 feet above the wall.

        “That was really the only mistake I made,” Haynes said. “I got it a little up.”

Adam Dunn, playing first base with Sean Casey out, catches a pickoff throw as Jason Kendall leaps back to first. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Reggie Taylor, hitting for Haynes, got the run back in the Reds' half of the sixth. He sent the first pitch he saw from Pirates reliever Sean Lowe out to right field. It was Taylor's first career pinch-hit home run, and the first pinch-hit round-tripper by a Red since D.T. Cromer hit one Sept. 28.

        Taylor's homer turned out to be the beginning of a big inning. After Walker flied out, Boone walked and Dunn singled. Kearns got Boone in with a sacrifice fly. Russell Branyan drove in another run with a shot off Pittsburgh first baseman Kevin Young's glove, making it 5-1.

        In the seventh, Moeller grad Adam Hyzdu hit a solo homer off Reds reliever Scott Sullivan to make it 5-2.

        The Reds added two more runs in the eighth. Kearns and Dunn were in the middle of that rally, too, but Griffey was gone by then. Boone took him out after the sixth to rest his hamstring.

        Griffey is OK, although Boone plans to rest him for today's game at 12:35 p.m.

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