By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Austin Kearns had Atlanta reliever Kevin Gryboski right where he wanted him. Gryboski was behind 3-0 in the count. With the bases loaded, two out and the score tied at 3, Gryboski would have to throw strikes.

PHOTO GALLERY

Wednesday's game

"If I'm on the other team," Sean Casey said, "I don't want Austin Kearns coming up with too many guys on. He's going to make you pay."

On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Kearns made the Braves pay dearly with a three-run rocket of a double to left-center.

Kearns' double was the key blow in a 9-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves before 33,355 at Great American Ball Park, their biggest crowd since Opening Day.

Kearns' shot added to his resume as a clutch hitter. It raised his RBI total to 44 - giving him the National League lead. He has seven RBI in the first two games of the series.

"He's unbelievable," Adam Dunn said.

BY THE NUMBERS

• 15: Consecutive games in which the Reds have hit a home run. • 17: Major-league-leading home run total of Adam Dunn. • 72: Reds' home run total, tied with Texas for the major-league lead. • 15: Hitting streak for Austin Kearns. • 44: Kearns' National League-leading RBI total. • 2: Place the Reds occupy in the NL Central, tied with St. Louis and Houston. • 1 1/2: Games behind the first-place Cubs. • 19-9: Reds' record since starting 5-13. • 33,355: The crowd, best since Opening Day. • 11: Games of Sean Casey's hit streak.

Dunn, Kearns' buddy and fellow 1998 draftee, is pretty unbelievable himself. He busted the game open with a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the eighth. Dunn's 17th homer of the year, tops in the majors, was well up into the seats in right field

The roar after the shot could be heard from Maysville to Rising Sun.

"Ever since we've been playing well, the crowd's into every pitch," Dunn said. "It's so much fun for us and so much fun for the fans."

"Kearns and Dunn are 23," Casey said. "But they play like they're 33."

Chris Reitsma (3-1) got the win with four innings of shutout relief.

The Braves, who came in as the hottest team in baseball, have lost the first two of the series to the Reds. How significant is that?

The Braves haven't lost two straight since April 11-12.

It's the first time the Reds have beaten the Braves in back-to-back games in Cincinnati since Sept. 3-4, 1996.

The victory was the 10th for the Reds in their last 11 games at Great American.

It moved the Reds two games over .500 at 24-22 and 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central.

The Reds came back from a 3-0 deficit to win this one.

Reds starter John Riedling retired the first seven batters but allowed a run in the third. That was a bad omen. The Braves were 20-1 when they scored first this season.

The Braves got to Riedling for two more in the fourth to go up 3-0.

The Reds came back in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a sudden bout of wildness by Atlanta starter Mike Hampton. He walked Aaron Boone to start the inning. Casey hit a high drive to center that Andruw Jones ran down. Kelly Stinnett doubled after getting ahead 3-0 to score Boone.

Juan Castro followed with a single. The Reds sent up Wily Mo Pena to pinch-hit for Riedling, and Pena hit a shot that second baseman Mark DeRosa made a diving stop on. His only play was to force Castro at second. Stinnett scored to make it 3-2. Hampton then walked Barry Larkin.

Jose Guillen got Pena home with a single to right, tying it at 3. Hampton walked Ken Griffey Jr. to load the bases for Kearns.

That was it for Hampton. The Braves brought in Gryboski.

"The more you're up in that situation, the more you're able to stay calm," Kearns.

Gryboski fell behind Kearns 3-0. Kearns took a strike. A good pitch to hit, but Kearns knew he'd see another.

He swung through a pitch and fouled one off. He then rocketed one into the left-center field gap to clear the bases and make it 6-3.

"He misses one, fouls one off, smokes one into the gap," Dunn said, "and then acts like it's nothing."

The six-run inning equaled the Reds' biggest of the year.

The hit extended Kearns' hitting streak to 15 games.

Dunn's homer gave the Reds one in 15 straight games. Only the 1956 team (21) and 1955 team (17) had longer streaks than that.

Atlanta	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Furcal ss	4	0	0	0	1	0	.332
DeRosa 2b	4	0	1	1	0	0	.182
Sheffield rf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.353
CJones lf	3	0	0	0	1	0	.288
AJones cf	4	1	1	0	0	1	.285
Fick 1b	4	1	1	1	0	0	.295
JLopez c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.264
Castilla 3b	3	1	2	0	1	0	.290
Hampton p	2	0	1	1	0	0	.250
Gryboski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
MFranco ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.279
Holmes p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
King p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Bong p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JuFranco ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.284
Totals	34	3	8	3	3	2

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	1	1	0	0	2	0	.259
Reitsma p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.143
Dunn ph	1	1	1	3	0	0	.236
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JGuillen lf	4	1	2	1	0	1	.330
Griffey Jr. cf	3	1	1	0	2	0	.250
Kearns rf	5	0	2	3	0	1	.309
ABoone 3b	2	1	0	0	2	1	.270
Casey 1b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.309
Stinnett c	3	2	1	1	1	0	.304
JCastro 2b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.253
Riedling p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.100
WPena ph	1	1	0	1	0	0	.053
FLopez ss	1	1	0	0	1	0	.235
Totals	31	9	9	9	8	5

Atlanta	001	200	000	-3	8	0
Cincinnati	000	600	03x	-9	9	0

LOB-Atlanta 7, Cincinnati 7. 2B-Sheffield (14), Fick (7), Castilla (6), Kearns 2 (8), Stinnett (7). HR-Dunn (17), off Bong. RBIs-DeRosa (5), Fick (20), Hampton (2), Dunn 3 (36), JGuillen (23), Kearns 3 (44), Stinnett (5), WPena (1). SB-Casey (1). S-JGuillen. GIDP-JuFranco.

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

Atlanta	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Hampton L, 2-2	3 2/3	5	6	6	5	0	78	4.31
Gryboski	1 1/3	1	0	0	0	1	19	5.71
Holmes	1	0	0	0	0	2	15	5.06
King	1	1	0	0	1	0	20	3.00
Bong	1	2	3	3	2	2	33	3.52

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Riedling	4	5	3	3	2	2	76	5.50
Reitsma W, 3-1	4	2	0	0	1	0	54	6.75
GWhite	1	1	0	0	0	0	8	2.86

Inherited runners-scored-Gryboski 3-3.

IBB-off King (ABoone) 1. WP-Hampton, Riedling.

T-3:06. A-33,355 (42,263).