By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ST. LOUIS - Danny Graves seems to have gotten the hang of this starting thing. The Reds' closer-turned-starter did both Wednesday night. He pitched his first career shutout, a four-hitter, to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 before a crowd of 31,731 at Busch Stadium.

It was the fourth straight start in which Graves established a career high for innings. His ERA has gone from 7.81 to 4.56 in those starts. Calls to sports talk radio about putting him back in the bullpen have dropped to 0.00 in that span.

"I want to thank all the people who stood by me," he said. "I know a lot of people in Cincinnati wrote in and called in about sending me back to bullpen. We've got a great bullpen and a great closer."

Wednesday, they had a great starter, too.

The Reds, winners of eight of their last nine games, are 21-19 and tied with Houston for second place in the National League Central.

Austin Kearns drove in all four runs Wednesday - with a three-run homer and an RBI single.

Graves walked one and struck out one.

"I'm glad I only struck out one," Graves said. "That's less pitches."

He threw 117 pitches, 77 for strikes. He got 18 outs on groundballs. The game took only 2 hours, 6 minutes - the fastest of the season for Reds.

"Danny was awesome," Kearns said. "There wasn't any point in the game where he was stumbling. The game just flowed."

"He was special," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "He had it all working - command, velocity, all his pitches."

Graves, a 29-year-old right-hander, never questioned his ability to start. He's 3-0 with an 0.76 ERA in his last three outings.

"But it isn't easy," he said. "I pitched a complete-game shutout, but I'm still learning."

The shutout was the first by a Red since Chris Reitsma's on July 15, 2002, at Milwaukee. It was the first complete game since Ryan Dempster's on Sept. 25, 2002, at Chicago's Wrigley Field.

Ken Griffey Jr. made his first start since dislocating his right shoulder April 4. He was 1-for-3 with a double and scored twice.

"It was a lot of fun," Griffey said. "I got a chance to do something, get a couple of at-bats."

The Reds have won six straight games over the Cardinals. Wednesday's win guaranteed them their sixth victory in their last seven series.

Graves outpitched St. Louis' ace, Matt Morris, who came into the game 4-2 with a 2.56 ERA. He faced the minimum nine batters through three innings.

But with one out into the fourth, Sean Casey pulled a pitch into right field for a single, and Griffey walked on five pitches.

Three pitches later, Morris hung 2-1 curve ball to Kearns. It landed in the seats about 20 feet above left field - a 379-foot poke.

"That's why I played him," Boone said.

The original plan was to give Kearns the night off in favor of Jose Guillen. But Guillen has a sore hamstring.

It was the 13th home run of the season for Kearns, who hit 13 homers all last year.

The Reds added a run in the sixth. Griffey hit a ground-rule double to right with two outs, and Kearns followed with a single up the middle. St. Louis Center fielder Jim Edmonds charged and fired a throw. Griffey and the ball arrived at the plate at about the same time, but the ball skipped off catcher Mike Matheny's mitt just before Griffey slid into him.

Griffey slid feet-first.

"I slide left-handed," he said. "That protects my right shoulder."

Graves ran into his only bit of trouble in the sixth.

Orlando Palmeiro started the inning with a comebacker that hit off Graves' side. Graves picked it up and threw to first for the first out.

Fernando Vina and former Red Eduardo Perez followed with singles, putting runners on first and third with one out. But Graves got Albert Pujols to line out to Aaron Boone at third, and Edmonds hit a high drive that Griffey caught in center field.

"I was right against the wall," Griffey said.

Graves pitched 1-2-3 innings in the seventh, eighth and ninth.

"(Reds pitching coach Don Gullett) has been after me to be aggressive all the way - treat every inning like a save," Graves said.

Wednesday, he converted nine of nine.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
FLopez ss	4	0	1	0	0	2	.220
Casey 1b	4	1	1	0	0	0	.305
Griffey Jr. cf	3	2	1	0	1	0	.261
Kearns rf	4	1	2	4	0	1	.305
ABoone 3b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.280
Dunn lf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.237
LaRue c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.229
JCastro 2b	3	0	1	0	0	0	.284
Graves p	3	0	0	0	0	0	.105
Totals	33	4	7	4	1	4

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Vina 2b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.220
EPerez rf	3	0	1	0	0	0	.317
Hermanson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Kline p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Robinson ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.212
Pujols lf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.325
Edmonds cf	3	0	0	0	1	0	.325
Rolen 3b	3	0	1	0	0	0	.282
Renteria ss	3	0	1	0	0	0	.363
TMartinez 1b	3	0	0	0	0	0	.275
Matheny c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.279
Morris p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.250
OPalmeiro ph-rf	2	0	0	0	0	0	.253
Totals	30	0	4	0	1	1

Cincinnati	000	301	000	-4	7	0
St. Louis	000	000	000	-0	4	0

LOB-Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 4. 2B-FLopez (6), Griffey Jr. (4). HR-Kearns (13), off Morris. RBIs-Kearns 4 (35). GIDP-JCastro, TMartinez.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (JCastro, FLopez and Casey); St. Louis 1 (Renteria, Vina and TMartinez). DP-Cincinnati 1, St. Louis 1.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves W, 3-2	9	4	0	0	1	1	117	4.56

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Morris L, 4-3	6	5	4	4	1	4	77	2.88
Hermanson	2	2	0	0	0	0	22	3.06
Kline	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	4.60

Umpires-Home, Gerry Davis; First, Ed Rapuano; Second, Mark Carlson; Third, Paul Nauert.

T-2:06. A-31,731 (50,354).