By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Monday's game

CHICAGO - Monday night was not the night you would have expected the Reds to wake up offensively. Nor was it the night you would have expected them to record their first easy win of the year.

After all, the Chicago Cubs were starting Mark Prior, who came in with a 2-0 record, an 0.60 ERA and a Tom Seaver-of-the-future label.

But for one balmy April night at Wrigley Field, the Reds hit like they had hoped and the Cubs played like the lovable losers they are known as, committing three errors.

The result was an 11-3 Reds victory before a crowd of 35,528. The Reds' previous four victories had come by one run in the final at-bats.

"Hard to believe," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "We hadn't had a laugher. This really didn't feel like a laugher to me."

It wasn't, until the Reds scored four in the sixth and two in the seventh to break it open.

"You come in here and you face one of the best staffs in baseball," Sean Casey said. "Leading off with Mark Prior, you're just hoping to scratch out a couple of runs."

The Reds had lost two straight and four of five coming into the four-game set. The kicker was Sunday's 13-1 disaster against Philadelphia.

"This is a good win for us," Casey said, "especially after (Sunday)."

Jason LaRue hit a career-high three doubles and scored three runs to provide the early offense.

Casey (three hits) and Felipe Lopez each drove in two runs. Jose Guillen hit the Reds' only home run of the night to get them into double digits.

Jimmy Anderson (1-1) went six innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits, for his first victory as a Red. Anderson, who came into the game with a 7.69 ERA and 0-1 record, hung with Prior, who also went six, allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits.

Prior retired the first four Reds he faced Tuesday. But Adam Dunn worked a one-out walk in the second. LaRue followed with smash grounder down the third base line. Dunn would have scored easily, but a fan scooped up the ball, making it a ground-rule double. Dunn scored and LaRue went to third when Prior threw a wild pitch with Reggie Taylor at the plate. Taylor made it 2-0 with a sacrifice bunt.

After a 1-2-3 first, Anderson flirted with but avoided disaster.

The Cubs broke through in the fourth. Sammy Sosa led off with a single and eventually scored on Mark Bellhorn's sacrifice fly.

The Reds came right back in the fifth. LaRue doubled to left again. After Taylor struck out, Larson hit a roller in front of the mound. Prior's throw to Karros at first was high. Anderson bunted Larson over to second.

Lopez singled sharply into left to drive in both runs for a 4-1 lead.

The Reds added to the lead in the sixth. Casey singled and Dunn walked. LaRue's third straight double drove Casey home.

Anderson lost it suddenly in the sixth, giving up four straight hits and two runs to make it 5-3. He left with no outs and runners on second and third. The Reds were on the brink.

But great relief pitching by Kent Mercker (one hitter, one strikeout) and Scott Sullivan (three hitters, one strikeout, one intentional walk, one groundout) stopped the bleeding.

"The bullpen saved me," Anderson said.

Sullivan gave up four runs in one-third of an inning Sunday.

"Sully gets most improved pitcher from one day to the next," Boone said. "He was shocked I called him."

That was the last close call. The Reds scored four runs in the seventh to break it open.

Guillen's two-run homer in the eighth made it 11-3. John Riedling pitched the final three innings for his third career save and first in over two years.

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E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

Reds 11, Cubs 3

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
FLopez ss	4	1	1	2	0	0	.138
ABoone 2b	5	0	0	0	0	3	.241
Casey 1b	5	2	3	2	0	0	.327
Kearns rf	4	0	0	0	1	2	.318
Dunn lf	2	1	1	1	2	1	.220
Riedling p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
LaRue c	5	2	3	1	0	2	.231
Taylor cf	4	0	0	1	0	3	.192
Larson 3b	3	3	1	0	1	1	.108
JAnderson p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JGuillen ph-lf	2	2	2	2	0	0	.273
Totals	36	11	11	9	4	13

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Grudzielanek 2b	5	0	1	0	0	1	.327
ASGonzalez ss	5	0	0	0	0	2	.354
SSosa rf	4	2	2	0	0	1	.300
Alou lf	4	1	2	1	0	0	.362
Karros 1b	4	0	2	0	0	0	.222
Bellhorn 3b	3	0	2	2	0	0	.139
CPatterson cf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.298
DMiller c	4	0	0	0	0	1	.263
Prior p	2	0	1	0	0	0	.429
O'Leary ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
JuCruz p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Remlinger p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Veres p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
LHarris ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.308
Totals	36	3	11	3	1	7

Cincinnati	020	021	420	-11	11	0
Chicago	000	102	000	-3	11	3

E-Alou (2), Prior (2), JuCruz (1). LOB-Cincinnati 5, Chicago 8. 2B-LaRue 3 (5), SSosa (4), Bellhorn (1), Prior (1). HR-JGuillen (1) off Veres. RBIs-FLopez 2 (2), Casey 2 (8), Dunn (8), LaRue (7), Taylor (2), JGuillen 2 (2), Alou (12), Bellhorn 2 (8). CS-Dunn (1). S-FLopez, Taylor, JAnderson. SF-Bellhorn.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (Dunn and ABoone).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JAnderson W, 1-1	5	10	3	3	0	2	71	7.47
Mercker	1/3	0	0	0	0	1	5	0.00
Sullivan	2/3	0	0	0	1	1	15	6.14
Riedling S, 1	3	1	0	0	0	3	35	5.40

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Prior L, 2-1	6	5	5	3	2	6	95	1.71
JuCruz	1/3	2	4	3	2	1	29	8.53
Remlinger	2/3	1	0	0	0	2	14	4.15
Veres	2	3	2	2	0	4	32	7.94

JAnderson pitched to 4 batters in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored-Mercker 2-0, Sullivan 2-0, Remlinger 2-1.

IBB-off Sullivan (O'Leary) 1. WP-Prior, JuCruz.

T-2:52. A-37,528 (39,241).