By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ST. LOUIS - The Reds' streak against the St. Louis Cardinals came to an end Thursday with a 6-3 loss. But after taking six of seven from the 2002 National League Central champs, the Reds know they'll be viewed a little differently.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Thursday's game

"It tells you maybe we're for real," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "It helped us more than it hurt them. Everyone knows they're for real."

"We have a lot of talent in this room, and in the last two weeks our strength has started to show," Aaron Boone said. "To play well against your division rivals - you figure this is the team to beat - is always a bonus."

But Thursday's game, played on a delightful afternoon before 37,904 at Busch Stadium, pointed out two other things as well:

• The Reds have the capacity to make almost any game interesting.

• And despite the recent run, they are still operating with what amounts to a 24-man roster.

They proved both of those things in the ninth inning. The Cards had scored three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to break open a 1-1 game.

But the Reds started the ninth with consecutive singles from Reggie Taylor, Sean Casey and Jose Guillen.

After Aaron Boone flied out to center, Adam Dunn got a run home with a sacrifice fly.

Ken Griffey Jr. pinch hit for Kelly Stinnett. When Griffey singled to right to make the score 6-3, the crowd at Busch was getting nervous. The next batter represented the tying run.

The Reds had Austin Kearns, he of the 13 home runs and 35 RBI, available. He was on deck when Juan Castro hit for himself and struck out swinging to end the game.

Manager Boone thought about hitting Kearns for Castro.

"I did, but I couldn't," Boone said.

His only backup infielder, Barry Larkin, had pinch hit in the eighth, so Boone saw his only alternative was to play catcher Jason LaRue at third.

"But Jason couldn't catch and play third," Boone said.

Griffey already had pinch hit for Stinnett, the Reds' other catcher.

The predicament shows that Wily Mo Pena is not an option under any but the most desperate of circumstances. He played some third during spring training with spotty results.

The situation could come up again, and soon. Larkin was bothered enough by his strained left calf that Danny Graves pinch ran for him after Larkin walked in the eighth.

In his third start, John Riedling worked a career-high six innings and allowed three runs on five hits, striking out two and walking one. Riedling left with the score 2-1.

"You want to win," Riedling said. "I'd rather give up five runs and win."

Riedling's time in the rotation may be down to one start, because Jimmy Haynes is getting close to returning.

"It's been a great opportunity," Riedling said. "... I've seen what it takes to be a starter. It's a lot of work."

Dunn gave the Reds a 1-0 lead with a homer in the second, his 14th on the year. Scott Rolen tied it with an RBI single in the fourth.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
FLopez ss	3	0	0	0	0	0	.215
Taylor cf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.264
Casey 1b	4	1	1	0	0	0	.303
JGuillen rf	4	0	2	0	0	0	.333
ABoone 3b	3	0	0	0	1	0	.275
Dunn lf	2	1	1	2	1	0	.241
Stinnett c	3	0	0	0	0	1	.310
Griffey Jr. ph	1	0	1	1	0	0	.292
JCastro 2b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.268
Riedling p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.111
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Larkin ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.265
Graves pr	0	0	0	0	0	0	.105
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	30	3	6	3	3	4

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Vina 2b	4	0	2	1	0	0	.228
Robinson rf	3	0	0	0	0	1	.194
EPerez ph-rf	1	1	1	0	0	0	.333
Pujols lf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.322
OPalmeiro lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.253
Edmonds cf	4	1	1	2	0	0	.322
Rolen 3b	2	1	1	1	1	0	.286
Renteria ss	4	1	2	1	0	0	.367
TMartinez 1b	3	1	1	1	0	0	.276
Widger c	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Stephenson p	1	0	0	0	1	0	.125
Cairo ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.263
Fassero p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Eldred p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	29	6	9	6	2	1

Cincinnati	010	000	002	-3	6	0
St. Louis	000	100	32x	-6	9	0

LOB-Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 3. 2B-EPerez (4), Pujols (9), Renteria (15). HR-Edmonds (8), off Heredia; Dunn (14), off Stephenson. RBIs-Dunn 2 (30), Griffey Jr. (2), Vina (15), Edmonds 2 (22), Rolen (29), Renteria (31), TMartinez (10). CS-ABoone (1), Vina (3). S-Widger. SF-Dunn. GIDP-FLopez, Renteria, Widger.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3; St. Louis 1.

Runners moved up-Pujols, Edmonds, TMartinez.

DP-Cincinnati 2 (ABoone, JCastro and Casey), (JCastro, FLopez and Casey); St. Louis 1 (Renteria, Vina and TMartinez).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Riedling L, 0-2	6	5	3	3	2	1	91	5.34
Mercker	1	2	1	1	0	0	18	1.84
Heredia	1/3	2	2	2	0	0	4	2.70
Reith	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	6	4.35

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Stephenson W, 3-2	7	2	1	1	2	3	88	4.20
Fassero H, 3	1	3	2	2	1	0	17	7.42
Eldred S, 1	1	1	0	0	0	1	15	4.20

Riedling pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, Fassero pitched to 3 batters in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-Mercker 1-1, Eldred 3-2.

HBP-by Riedling (Rolen), by Stephenson (FLopez). WP-Mercker. Balk-Riedling.

T-2:36. A-37,904 (50,354).