By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

The wait is finally over, both for Sammy Sosa and the Reds.

On a Friday evening when 29,048 fans at Great American Ball Park saw the Cubs slugger make history with his 500th career homer, Cincinnati made a little of its own in a 10-9 win.

The Reds first regular-season victory also was its first in their new home.

This is the same team that looked so inept offensively in a three-game sweep by Pittsburgh earlier this week but did enough to offset shaky pitching from starter Danny Graves and relievers Scott Sullivan and John Riedling.

Presented a 7-0 lead by the third inning, the trio of Reds pitchers allowed the Cubs to creep back on the strength of three homers.

Cubs third baseman Lenny Harris tied the game at nine with a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

But it was Reds shortstop Barry Larkin who gave Cincinnati the lead with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the inning.

Catcher Jason LaRue scored from third after being hit by a pitch, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Felipe Lopez, and going to third on a balk by Cubs reliever Dave Veres.

The Reds finished with 11 hits, including homers by Adam Dunn, Aaron Boone and Austin Kearns.

That was in contrast to their three games against the Pirates, when they batted .192 as a team and were outscored 24-10.

Dunn, mired in a slump that stretched all the way back to Florida, started the Reds' breakout.

The left-fielder, who was hitting .091 entering Friday, was dropped to seventh in the batting order a day earlier.

But in his first at-bat against Cubs starter Shawn Estes, Dunn hit a 1-1 pitch just beside the smokestacks in right centerfield to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.

His teammates followed suit in the next inning.

A two-run homer by Boone, a three-run double by LaRue and a sacrifice fly by third baseman Brandon Larson made it a 6-0 game.

Graves was making his fifth major-league start since moving out of the closer's role last season.

Working solely out of the stretch for the sake of comfort, the right-hander didn't allow a run until the fourth inning.

Up 7-0, Graves allowed the Cubs to pull within two runs by the end of the fifth inning.

All six runs allowed by Graves were earned. He struck out three and walked two.

Sullivan came on in relief and allowed one run. It was a milestone.

Sosa, who became the fifth player to reach 500 before turning 35 years old, was 0-for-3 when he came to bat in the seventh.

Graves hit him in the first, struck him out in the third and got him to fly out to right field in the fifth.

With his wife cheering him on from a suite behind home plate, Sosa swung and missed badly on a 1-1 pitch before sending Sullivan's 1-2 offering into Section 143 in right field to make it 8-7.

Great American Ball Park continues to be a power hitter's dream and pitcher's nightmare. Eighteen home runs have been hit, and 53 runs scored in just four games.

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Grudzielanek 2b	5	1	2	0	0	1	.636
ASGonzalez ss	4	1	2	1	1	0	.438
SSosa rf	4	1	1	1	0	2	.364
Alou lf	4	1	3	0	1	0	.533
Choi 1b	4	2	1	3	1	1	.250
CPatterson cf	5	1	1	0	0	0	.368
Bellhorn 3b	2	0	0	0	1	1	.083
JuCruz p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Goodwin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Veres p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Guthrie p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
O'Leary ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
DMiller c	5	1	2	2	0	1	.143
Estes p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
LHarris 3b	2	1	1	2	0	0	.500
Totals	39	9	13	9	4	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	4	1	3	1	1	0	.357
ABoone 2b	5	2	1	2	0	1	.222
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	1	0	1	0	.267
Kearns rf	4	2	3	2	0	1	.462
Casey 1b	4	1	0	0	0	0	.125
Larson 3b	2	0	0	1	0	1	.083
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Taylor ph-lf	1	0	1	0	0	0	.667
Dunn lf	3	2	1	1	1	1	.143
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
LaRue c	3	1	1	3	0	0	.214
Graves p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
FLopez 3b	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	33	10	11	10	3	4

Chicago	000	240	120	-9	13	1
Cincinnati	016	100	11x	-10	11	0

E-Alou (1). LOB-Chicago 8, Cincinnati 5. 2B-ASGonzalez 2 (4), DMiller (1), Larkin (2), LaRue (2). HR-LHarris (1) off Riedling; Kearns (2) off JuCruz; SSosa (1) off Sullivan; Choi (1) off Graves; ABoone (2) off Estes; Dunn (1) off Estes. RBIs-ASGonzalez (1), SSosa (5), Choi 3 (3), DMiller 2 (2), LHarris 2 (2), Larkin (1), ABoone 2 (4), Kearns 2 (5), Larson (2), Dunn (1), LaRue 3 (3). S-FLopez. SF-Larson.

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Estes	4	8	8	4	3	1	70	9.00
JuCruz	3	2	1	1	0	3	39	1.80
Veres L, 0-1	2/3	1	1	1	0	0	14	16.20
Guthrie	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.00

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves	5	8	6	6	2	3	89	10.80
Sullivan	1 1/3	2	1	1	0	2	31	2.08
GWhite	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	3	3.38
Riedling	1/3	3	2	2	1	0	24	15.43
Williamson W, 1-0	1 2/3	0	0	0	1	3	25	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-Guthrie 1-0, GWhite 1-0, Williamson 2-0.

HBP-by Veres (LaRue), by Graves (SSosa). Balk-Veres.

T-3:10. A-29,048 (42,263).