By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SAN FRANCISCO - While you were sleeping Friday night, Danny Graves was out proving that this starting experiment might work after all.

Graves threw seven shutout innings in the Reds' 5-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on a waterlogged night at Pac Bell Park.

It was the first victory of the year for Graves (1-2) and easily his finest outing as a starter. The seven innings were a career high.

He allowed only six hits and two walks. He struck out five.

Graves had allowed at least four runs in each of his previous five starts.

"He was excellent," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "That's not a fluke. That's two in a row where he hit his spots. His velocity was up tonight."

Graves obviously was pleased.

"That's a confidence booster for me," Graves said. "(San Francisco's) a first-place team, probably the best team in the National League so far this year."

The game, delayed twice by rain for a total of 86 minutes, didn't end until 2:48 a.m. EDT.

Five different Reds drove in runs. Jason LaRue hit the Reds' only homer of the night. Felipe Lopez had a big night, despite going 0-for-3. He walked twice, stole two bases and scored two runs.

But it was Graves' night. The key was the return to his sinker.

"That's my pitch," Graves said. "Early this season, I was getting away from it. I was throwing breaking balls and trying to throw changeups when I didn't need to. (Pitching coach Don Gullett) and (bullpen coach Tom Hume) both told me to stay aggressive. Throw what got you here."

Late Friday

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
FLopez ss	3	2	0	0	2	1	.237
Dunn lf	5	0	1	1	0	2	.237
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Casey 1b	4	1	2	1	1	0	.321
Kearns cf-rf	3	0	1	0	2	0	.303
ABoone 3b	5	0	3	0	0	2	.271
JGuillen rf-lf	5	1	1	1	0	0	.300
Freel 2b	3	0	0	1	0	0	.158
JCastro 2b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.278
LaRue c	2	1	1	1	2	0	.232
Graves p	3	0	0	0	0	1	.154
RMateo ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.171
Taylor cf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.220
Totals	34	5	9	5	7	6

San Francisco	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Durham 2b	4	0	2	0	1	1	.321
NPerez ss	5	0	1	0	0	0	.210
Bonds lf	4	1	1	1	1	1	.284
JoCruz rf	4	0	1	0	0	2	.314
Snow 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.306
BSantiago c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.291
Alfonzo 3b	4	0	2	0	0	0	.194
Grissom cf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.263
Ainsworth p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.091
Brower p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Benard ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.087
Eyre p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Zerbe p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Feliz ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.227
Totals	37	1	10	1	2	7

Cincinnati	000	022	100	-5	9	2
San Francisco	000	000	010	-1	10	1

E-ABoone (2), Freel (1), BSantiago (2).

DP-Cincinnati 1.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves W, 1-2	7	6	0	0	2	5	101	6.23
Heredia	2/3	1	1	1	0	0	14	2.35
Sullivan	1 1/3	3	0	0	0	2	20	3.24

San Francisco	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Ainsworth L, 3-2	4 1/3	4	2	2	6	5	102	4.81
Brower	2 2/3	4	3	3	1	1	50	6.75
Eyre	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	3.27
Zerbe	1	1	0	0	0	0	15	8.71

Inherited runners-scored-Brower 2-1.

IBB-off Graves (Bonds) 1. WP-Graves.

T-2:55. A-35,486 (41,503).