By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

In one swing of the bat, a very ugly loss turned into a very sweet win.

Austin Kearns hit a two-run line-drive home run to left field in the ninth inning to lift the Reds to a 7-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies before a crowd of 27,738 at Great American Ball Park.

"That was a big win for us," Sean Casey said. "We had to win that game. Kearnsie came up with the big hit."

Make that the biggest hit of the season. Kearns' homer had the crowd standing and roaring before it landed.

The Reds broke out the "Home Plate Hop," circa 1999 to celebrate, and Kearns took a curtain call after the celebration ended.

It was Kearns' second homer of the night and the first two-homer game of his career.

And it got Felipe Lopez off the hook - big time.

Lopez's throwing error in the eighth inning had led to four unearned runs.

Placido Polanco put the Phils up 6-5 in the top of the ninth with a home run off reliever Gabe White.

"When they caught us and went ahead, guys came in the dugout and were still upbeat," Kearns said. "We were like, 'We can win this game. Everybody stay in it.' "

Phillies closer Jose Mesa came on to pitch the ninth. Aaron Boone flied to short center to start the inning. Casey then singled.

Kearns was looking for a fastball or slider from Mesa.

"He doesn't throw anything soft," Kearns said. "It was a breaking ball."

A "slurve," Kearns called it.

Kearns put his usual short stroke on it.

"I knew I got it," he said.

"Everyone knew it was gone," Casey said. "That was a bomb."

It gave the Reds' their fourth win of the year - all four have come by one run in their final at-bat - but none rivals this one.

The game went from good to bad to great in the span of three innings.

Paul Wilson started and pitched six strong innings, and the Reds came out of their offensive funk via the long ball. Adam Dunn and Kelly Stinnett also homered. That added up to a 5-1 lead going to the eighth inning.

But one really bad throw turned the night around.

Then one really big swing turned it back around.

"This was a real big win for us," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "We had the game and just kind of gave it to them. We've given a couple to them already this year. But that's what young people do. We know the talent is there. In this game, mistakes are part of it."

Wilson went an impressive six innings, allowing one run on five hits, walked none and struck out three. He lowered his ERA to 1.42, not bad for a guy who didn't pitch an inning in a major league gamer all spring because of injuries.

The Reds got Wilson a quick lead. Lopez led off the first with a double off the left field wall. Aaron Boone sacrificed Lopez to third. After Casey walked, Kearns got Lopez home with a fielder's choice groundout.

The Reds added to the lead in the third. Kearns singled with one out. Dunn followed with a tracer shot in the seats above left field. It was Dunn's fourth homer of the year. He has two hits other than the homers.

The Phillies only got one runner to second base through the first five innings. They finally broke Wilson string of zeros with a run in the sixth.

Stinnett, making his first start of the season, cancelled the Phillies run by leading off the sixth for the Reds with a long home run to left.

Kearns added another run with a shot the opposite way to right off former Red Hector Mercado.

It went bad for the Reds in the eighth. The Phillies loaded the bases with one out. But John Riedling struck out Pat Burrell and induced David Bell to hit a routine groundball to Lopez. Lopez had time but his throw was over Casey's head. It would have been over Yao Ming's head. Two runs scored to make it 5-3.

"That's what 22-year-olds do," Boone said. "They mess up easy plays. They show potential. Felipe made three great plays tonight."

After Mike Lieberthal walked, pinch-hitter Tyler Houston singled in the tying runs.

Polanco's homer off Gabe White in the ninth looked like the game-winner until Kearns' big swing.

The homer was his fifth of the year, tying him for the major league lead.

"I'm not a home run hitter," Kearns said. "You don't go two months without hitting like I did last year if you're a homer run hitter. The last thing I want to try to do is hit home runs."

But sometimes he does with even trying.

Philadelphia	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Rollins ss	5	1	1	0	0	2	.319
Polanco 2b	4	3	3	1	0	0	.366
Babreu rf	5	0	2	0	0	0	.179
Thome 1b	4	1	1	1	1	1	.310
Burrell lf	5	0	1	0	0	2	.209
DaBell 3b	5	1	1	0	0	0	.296
Lieberthal c	4	0	0	0	1	0	.375
Byrd cf	3	0	0	0	0	0	.172
c-Houston ph	1	0	1	2	0	0	.250
Adams p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Mesa p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
BMyers p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.250
b-Punto ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Mercado p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
d-Ledee ph-cf	1	0	1	0	0	0	.429
Totals	40	6	11	4	2	6

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Flopez ss	5	1	2	0	0	1	.176
ABoone 2b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.220
Casey 1b	4	0	1	0	1	0	.308
1-WPena pr	0	1	0	0	0	0	.000
Kearns rf	4	3	3	4	0	0	.364
Dunn lf	3	1	2	2	1	0	.188
Larson 3b	3	0	0	0	1	1	.074
Taylor cf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.222
Stinnett c	4	1	2	1	0	0	.500
PWilson p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-RMateo ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
e-JGuillen ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Gwhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	35	7	11	7	3	3

Philadelphia	000	001	041	-6	11	0
Cincinnati	102	001	102	-7	11	1

One out when winning run scored.

a-flied out for Wilson in the 6th. b-flied out for Myers in the 7th. c-singled for Byrd in the 8th. d-singled for Mercado in the 8th. e-lined out for Riedling in the 8th.

1-ran for Casey in the 9th.

E-FLopez (1). LOB-Philadelphia 10, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Polanco (2), Burrell (3), FLopez (2), Dunn (1). HR-Polanco (1) off GWhite; Kearns 2 (5) off Mesa, Mercado; Stinnett (1) off BMyers; Dunn (4) off BMyers. RBIs-Polanco (4), Thome (10), Houston 2 (3), Kearns 4 (11), Dunn 2 (6), Stinnett (1). S-ABoone.

Philadelphia	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
BMyers	6	8	4	4	2	3	89	3.00
Mercado	1	1	1	1	1	0	12	5.63
Adams	1	0	0	0	0	0	9	0.00
Mesa L, 1-1	1/3	2	2	2	0	0	6	4.91

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson	6	5	1	1	0	3	92	1.42
Sullivan	1	2	2	0	0	0	27	1.42
Mercker	1/3	0	1	0	1	0	8	0.00
Riedling	2/3	2	1	0	1	1	22	8.44
Gwhite	2/3	1	1	1	0	1	9	3.60
Williamson W, 2-0	1/3	1	0	0	0	1	15	0.00

Sullivan pitched to 2 batters in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored-Mercker 2-0, Riedling 3-3.

HBP-by BMyers (Kearns), by PWilson (Polanco). WP-Williamson.

T-2:54. A-27,738 (42,263).