By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's game

DENVER - Coors Field is a place where mediocre stuff and a little bad luck can turn into one very rough night.

Chris Reitsma found out just how rough Tuesday in the Reds' 10-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies before a crowd of 26,206 on a windy, chilly night at Coors Field.

Reitsma, who pitched eight innings of shutout ball in his first start this season, gave up nine runs and 12 hits, both career highs, in five innings of work. His ERA went from 0.00 to 6.23.

"This place (Coors) will do that to you," Reds manager Bob Boone said.

"That's what's great about this game," Reitsma said. "Some nights, it sucks; some nights, it's fun."

Tuesday, needless to say, was no fun.

A good part of that was tough luck. A check-swing single and three flares to the outfield gave the Rockies a 3-0 lead after an inning.

"He had a tough inning," Boone said. "That gets the barn door open. You get frustrated. After that, he got some balls up. All the home runs were right down Broadway."

After the first, Reitsma gave up three home runs that broke open the game.

The Reds, fresh off a 4-2 homestand, got an idea of how much tougher things could be on the six-game western road trip. The Rockies and San Francisco Giants, whom the Reds face next, entered Tuesday with a combined record of 32-17.

Los Angeles and San Diego, the teams the Reds played during the homestand, entered Tuesday 22-29.

The Rockies have been nearly unbeatable at Coors. Tuesday's win pushed their home record to 11-2.

Jay Payton started things with a one-out, check-swing infield single. Helton followed with a flare to right-center. Preston Wilson followed with another flare that dropped in front of Adam Dunn. Wilson went to second on Dunn's throw to third.

Helton scored on Walker's groundout. Jose Hernandez got Wilson home with a single off right fielder Jose Guillen's glove. Just like that, it was 3-0.

"A blooper here and there," Reitsma said. "It was one of those nights."

After the Rockies added a run in the second, the Reds cut the lead in the half in the fourth. Dunn and Guillen both singled. Juan Castro broke an 0-for-14 skid with an RBI single, and then Jason LaRue was hit by a pitch.

After Reitsma struck out, Felipe Lopez got the second run in with groundout to first. Aaron Boone walked to load the bases. But the inning ended when shortstop Hernandez made a nice play deep behind second to rob Sean Casey of a hit.

Reitsma got the first two outs of the fourth on groundballs. Payton then singled up the middle and Helton followed with a soft liner that just got over Lopez's glove.

"There were probably four or five that, a foot or two the other way, we make the play," Reitsma said.

Unfortunately for Reitsma, after Helton's blooper, the hard-hit balls started coming, starting with Wilson's moon shot to left for his fifth home run of the year.

Walker hit the very next pitch out to right center: Four runs in 40 seconds, and the Reds trailed 8-2.

Charles Johnson made it 9-2 with a homer to lead off the fifth.

The Reds' final three runs all came on Casey home runs - a solo shot in the seventh and two-run shot in the ninth.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
FLopez ss	5	0	1	1	0	0	.238
ABoone 3b	3	1	0	0	2	0	.231
Casey 1b	5	2	3	3	0	0	.327
Kearns cf	4	0	0	0	1	2	.273
Dunn lf	4	1	1	0	0	2	.220
JGuillen rf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.283
JCastro 2b	3	0	1	1	1	0	.257
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	0	3	.206
Reitsma p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.200
WPena ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.077
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Freel ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.111
Totals	35	5	7	5	4	9

Colorado	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Belliard 2b	5	1	1	2	0	0	.278
Payton lf	5	2	2	0	0	1	.314
Helton 1b	3	2	2	0	2	0	.344
PrWilson cf	4	2	2	4	1	1	.324
LWalker rf	4	1	1	2	0	1	.270
JHernandez ss	3	0	1	1	1	0	.316
CJohnson c	4	1	2	1	0	1	.219
Stynes 3b	4	1	1	0	0	0	.273
JJennings p	3	0	1	0	0	1	.300
DMiceli p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Richard ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.208
Fuentes p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
SReed p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	36	10	13	10	4	6

Cincinnati	000	200	102	-5	7	1
Colorado	310	410	01x	-10	13	1

E-JCastro (1), Belliard (4). LOB-Cincinnati 8, Colorado 6. 2B-CJohnson (4). HR-Belliard (1), off Reith; Casey 2 (4), off SReed, DMiceli; CJohnson (4), off Reitsma; LWalker (4), off Reitsma; PrWilson (5), off Reitsma. RBIs-FLopez (7), Casey 3 (14), JCastro (5), Belliard 2 (12), PrWilson 4 (22), LWJHernandez (13), CJohnson (12).

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 4 (Casey 2, Kearns, LaRue); Colorado 3 (PrWilson, JHernandez, Stynes).

Runners moved up-FLopez, LWalker.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Reitsma L, 1-1	5	12	9	9	2	2	96	6.23
Mercker	2/3	0	0	0	2	2	19	2.45
Reith	1 2/3	1	1	1	0	2	28	7.36
Heredia	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	3	1.98

Colorado	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JJennings W, 2-3	6	5	2	2	2	6	102	6.97
DMiceli	1	1	1	1	0	1	18	6.46
Fuentes	1	0	0	0	1	1	18	2.31
SReed	1	1	2	2	1	1	28	5.25

Inherited runners-scored-Reith 2-0.

HBP-by JJennings (LaRue).

Umpires-Home, Mike Reilly; First, Bill Hohn; Second, Jerry Meals; Third, Tim Timmons.

T-2:43. A-26,206 (50,449).