ST. LOUIS - One of the marks of a good starting pitcher is the ability to hold a lead. In his short life as a Red, no lead has been safe with Ryan Dempster. That was the case in Wednesday night's 10-5 loss to the St Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, a game in which the Cards scored 10 unanswered runs.

Jason LaRue hits a grand slam in the second inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Dempster was given a 5-0 lead in the second, thanks largely to a Jason LaRue grand slam. But by the fifth, the end of Dempster's outing, the lead was gone.

        “That's the story of a sub-.500 pitcher,” Dempster said.

        The bullpen allowed one run in both the sixth and seventh innings and three in the eighth, but Dempster took the blame for this one.

        The Reds' offense left 10 runners on base.

        “That's the story of our year, certainly since the All-Star break,” Reds manager Bob Boone said.

        In four of his last five starts, the Reds have given Dempster the lead. He hasn't held it in any of them and the Reds have lost all five games.

Edgar Renteria got the Cardinals back in the game with a grand slam off Ryan Dempster. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “That's very frustrating,” he said. “When you have a lead, you should have fun and enjoy it, not try to make a perfect pitch.”

        Dempster is 2-5 with a 7.92 ERA as a Red but has pitched well over short spells.

        “I see a guy who's pitching pretty well, putting up a lot of zeros, and then he loses it for about 10 minutes,” Boone said.

        The Reds end the season series 8-11 against the Cardinals.

        The Reds go into today's off day 11 games behind in the National League Central.

        On Aug.11 - 23 days ago - they were two games out; they've gone 6-17 since.

Fernando Vina lands atop Aaron Boone after Boone broke upa double play. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Jamey Wright gave up five runs in the second. He started by walking Aaron Boone, who was eliminated on Russell Branyan fielder's choice. But Jose Guillen followed with a double and the Cardinals intentionally walked Reggie Taylor to get to LaRue.

        LaRue took a strike, then hit one high and deep to left-center It was his second slam this season.

        It was Cincinnati's seventh slam of the year and tied the club record of the 1974, '80 and '87 Reds.

        The Reds made it 5-0 when Todd Walker singled, stole second and scored on Barry Larkin's single.

        But the Cardinals answered with a slam of their own, by Edgar Renteria.

        “He just laid the ball into Renteria,” Bob Boone said of Dempster.

Jim Edmonds scores past La Rue after a single by Renteria in the eighth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        It was the Cardinals' seventh grand slam of the year, tying the Reds for the National League lead.

        Tino Martinez led off the Cardinals fifth with his 16th home run of the year to tie it.

        Dempster went five innings, allowing five runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out two.

A's win 20th straight after blowing 11-0 lead Cardinals 10, Reds 5 Reds Box, Runs Foul ball ends Larson's season Casey may call it a year Reds Notebook: Still no Griffey Cardinals never say die Padres 5, Astros 1 Rockies 2, Giants 1

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