By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MILWAUKEE - The ball was in flight long enough for everyone to focus on it.

From the mound, Scott Williamson followed it. When it hit the foul poll, indicating fair, Williamson slapped his leg with his glove and started the closer walk of shame.

Eddie Perez's two-out, three-run, walkoff home run lifted the Milwaukee Brewers to an 8-6 victory over the Reds before 16,482 at Miller Park.

Perez and his teammates were doing their version of the "the Home Plate Hop" by the time Williamson reached the dugout.

"That comes with the territory," Williamson said. "I battled out there. I've got to brush it off, put a smile on my face."

The loss was probably the hardest of the year for the Reds. They had come back from a 5-2 deficit, then took a 6-5 lead in the eighth on Felipe Lopez's two-run triple.

It was the third straight loss for the Reds. It dropped them back under .500 at 21-22. They are in fourth place - 4 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs - in the National League Central.

"We battled all day," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "We had it right there. Then one mistake ..."

Actually, Williamson made the mistake of walking Richie Sexson and John Vander Wal before Perez's home run.

Williamson hadn't pitched since Sunday. Boone brought him on in the eighth, which he got through easily, walking one.

The ninth was typical Williamson: walks and strikeouts. He walked Sexson on four pitches to start the inning. He then struck out Geoff Jenkins on a 96 mph fastball, a 95 mph fastball and a splitter in the dirt. Sexson went to second when strike 3 bounced away from catcher Jason LaRue.

Williamson then walked Vander Wal after getting ahead 1-2. Next, he struck out Wes Helms. None of the first four batters made contact.

Perez hit the first pitch he saw to left.

"I was in a rhythm with first-pitch strikes," Williamson said.

Perez noticed.

"I knew he was going to throw me a slider for a strike," Perez said. "... I was waiting for that pitch."

The slider was not very good.

"It was what we call a hanger," Boone said.

"That's not a guy who I should be giving up balls like that to," Williamson said. "He's a good hitter. But in that situation you've got to bury him. He buried me."

It was the Brewers' first walkoff homer since Sept. 1, 2001.

The Brewers built a 5-2 lead on Reds starter Jeff Austin. Austin, who did not walk a batter in his last start, struggled with control all day.

He went 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on four hits. He struck out two but walked six.

"I never really had a feel for my pitches," Austin said. "I didn't have a good feel for the ball in my hand. It was slipping out.

"But baseball is a game of adjustments. To not be able to make an adjustment as basic as that is a very poor sign."

The Brewers took a 3-0 lead in the third on Vander Wal's three-run double. Adam Dunn cut it to 3-2 with his daily home run - a two-run shot in the fourth for his 16th of the year.

When Austin walked two to start the fourth, Boone made the change. Kent Mercker came in and gave up a two-run triple to Scott Podsednik to make it 5-2. Aaron Boone's 11th homer - a two-run shot in the sixth - made it 5-4.

Boone walked in the eighth. An out later, LaRue beat out an infield single. Lopez tried to bunt for a safety squeeze on the first pitch, and his triple in the right corner gave the Reds a 6-5 lead, which looked pretty safe.

Williamson was 9-for-9 on save opportunities. The Brewers were 1-25 when trailing after eight innings. The Reds were 13-0 when leading after eight.

"It's disappointing," Williamson said. "But we've got to come back and try to win the last game of the this series."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	4	0	1	0	1	2	.264
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JGuillen rf	5	0	0	0	0	1	.318
Casey 1b	5	0	2	0	0	1	.305
Kearns cf	5	1	1	0	0	2	.302
ABoone 3b	4	3	2	2	1	0	.274
Dunn lf	4	1	1	2	0	1	.243
LaRue c	4	1	2	0	0	1	.240
FLopez 2b-ss	4	0	3	2	0	1	.231
Austin p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
WPena ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.056
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Griffey Jr. ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.286
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Taylor ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.259
JCastro 2b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.253
Totals	39	6	12	6	2	10

Milwaukee	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
EYoung 2b	2	1	1	0	3	0	.273
Podsednik cf	5	1	2	2	0	0	.273
Sexson 1b	2	2	0	0	3	1	.265
Jenkins lf	5	0	0	0	0	1	.269
Vander Wal rf	3	1	2	3	2	1	.247
Helms 3b	4	0	1	0	1	2	.234
EPerez c	4	1	1	3	1	0	.260
Clayton ss	3	1	0	0	1	1	.219
Rusch p	1	1	1	0	0	0	.200
Kieschnick p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.429
KGinter ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.253
Leskanic p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
LVizcaino p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JFoster p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
ASanchez ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.281
DeJean p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	31	8	8	8	11	6

Cincinnati	000	202	020	-6	12	0
Milwaukee	003	200	003	-8	8	0

Two outs when winning run scored.

LOB-Cincinnati 8, Milwaukee 9. 2B-Casey (6), ABoone (11), EYoung (9), Vander Wal 2 (6). 3B-FLopez (2), Podsednik (2). HR-EPerez (5), off Williamson; ABoone (11), off Rusch; Dunn (16), off Rusch. RBIs-ABoone 2 (31), Dunn 2 (33), FLopez 2 (10), Podsednik 2 (8), Vander Wal 3 (16), EPerez 3 (16). SB-EYoung 2 (10). S-Rusch. GIDP-Jenkins.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3; Milwaukee 5.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (FLopez, Larkin and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Austin	3 1/3	4	5	5	6	2	82	5.53
Mercker	2/3	1	0	0	1	0	11	1.76
Reitsma	1	0	0	0	0	1	11	8.10
Heredia	2	2	0	0	1	0	27	2.45
Williamson L, 3-2	BS, 1	1	2-3	1	3	3	3	3	34	3.63

Milwaukee	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Rusch	5 2/3	8	4	4	1	5	109	7.26
Kieschnick H, 1	1/3	0	0	0	0	1	4	6.52
Leskanic H, 3	1	1	0	0	0	2	18	2.50
LVizcaino BS, 4	1/3	2	2	2	1	0	18	10.34
JFoster	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	11	4.24
DeJean W, 1-2	1	1	0	0	0	2	14	3.86

Inherited runners-scored-Mercker 2-2, Kieschnick 2-0, JFoster 1-0.

IBB-off Mercker (Sexson) 1. WP-Williamson.

sT-3:07. A-16,482 (41,900).