By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

When nobody outside the Reds clubhouse had a clue, he was pushing his body to its limits.

The workouts began at 9 a.m. and, except for a 30-minute lunch break, typically lasted until 4 p.m.

It took Ken Griffey Jr. all of five weeks and three days to return to the Reds starting lineup May 14 after dislocating his right shoulder diving for a fly ball.

The true return, it could be argued, took place before a sellout crowd of 41,285 on Saturday at Great American Ball Park.

Buried in a 5-4 loss against the Marlins lay Griffey's first multi-hit game since September and first multi-homer game since July 2001.

"The last couple of days I've been trying to feel my way," he said. "Plus (manager Bob Boone) told me I had the day off (Sunday) so I had to get all my hits today."

The Reds center fielder went 4-for-4 with a pair of two-run homers and two singles. The effort raised his batting average from .239 to .300.

"We've seen it before," Boone said. "Physically, if he's good, you'll see it, I think, all the time."

Griffey's offense, however, wasn't enough as the Reds struck out 13 times in their third consecutive loss.

Scratched from his scheduled start Friday because of the flu, Brad Penny started for Florida.

The right-hander, winless in three previous career starts against the Reds, struck out a season-high 10 batters over six innings.

"He threw terrific," Boone said of Penny, who turned 25 years old Saturday. "He was dropping that breaking ball on us. Coming off a 95 mph fastball is pretty tough."

All of Penny's strikeouts, however, came after Griffey hit his third homer of the season and second this homestand.

Sean Casey singled to center field and scored on Griffey's homer to right field that put the Reds ahead 2-0 in the first inning.

Casey and Griffey singled in the third and Austin Kearns, whose 16-game hitting streak ended Saturday, walked to load the bases with one out.

The Reds failed to score, but their lead held up until the sixth inning.

Starter Paul Wilson retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced before allowing a solo homer by former Cincinnati outfielder Juan Encarnacion in the fifth.

"There wasn't anything I regret, anything I'd want to take back besides the curveball (to Encarnacion)," Wilson said. "Our job is to pick the (offensive) guys up when they're not doing it. I didn't do it tonight."

The Marlins tied the game at two in the sixth inning.

Third baseman Mike Lowell doubled off the left centerfield wall, scoring Luis Castillo from first base.

The Marlins loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and scored two runs on a single to right by Juan Pierre to make it 4-2.

Reds second baseman Ryan Freel, who had two hits in just his seventh start for Cincinnati this season, helped save a third run by throwing Mike Mordecai out at home plate for the second out in the seventh inning.

Wilson came out after the seventh. Of the 97 pitches he threw, 67 were strikes.

The Marlins scored one run in the eighth before Griffey hit his second two-run homer of the game in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-4. The victory assured the Marlins of a series win.

"The biggest thing is to get a win (today)," Griffey said. "It's a big day for us. You don't want to go on a road trip with a loss."

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E-mail kkelly@enquirer.com

Florida	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Pierre cf	5	0	2	2	0	0	.291
LCastillo 2b	5	1	1	0	0	0	.323
IRodriguez c	3	0	0	0	0	2	.250
Redmond ph-c	2	0	0	0	0	0	.205
Lowell 3b	5	1	2	1	0	0	.282
DeLee 1b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.239
JEncarnacion rf	3	2	3	1	1	0	.285
AGonzalez ss	4	1	3	1	0	0	.333
BBanks lf	2	0	0	0	1	1	.208
Penny p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.053
Hollandsworth ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.294
Mordecai pr	0	0	0	0	0	0	.176
Almanza p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
AFox ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.255
JAlvarez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Spooneybarger p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Looper p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	36	5	11	5	3	7

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 2b	5	0	2	0	0	0	.214
Casey 1b	5	2	3	0	0	1	.307
Griffey Jr. cf	4	2	4	4	0	0	.300
Kearns rf	3	0	0	0	1	2	.302
ABoone 3b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.261
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	1	3	.228
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.143
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	1	0	.248
FLopez ss	4	0	1	0	0	2	.235
PWilson p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
JGuillen ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.331
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Taylor lf	1	0	0	0	0	1	.254
Totals	35	4	10	4	3	13

Florida	000	011	210	-5	11	0
Cincinnati	200	000	020	-4	10	0

LOB-Florida 8, Cincinnati 7. 2B-Lowell (13), AGonzalez (12). HR-JEncarnacion (6), off PWilson; Griffey Jr. 2 (4), off JAlvarez, Penny. RBIs-Pierre 2 (15), Lowell (40), JEncarnacion (26), AGonzalez (30), Griffey Jr. 4 (8). CS-Pierre (6). S-BBanks. GIDP-Freel, Casey.

Runners left in scoring position-Florida 4 (Pierre 2, Redmond, DeLee); Cincinnati 2 (Dunn 2).

DP-Florida 2 (DeLee, AGonzalez and DeLee), (LCastillo, AGonzalez and DeLee).

Florida	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Penny W, 3-3	6	6	2	2	2	10	101	4.09
Almanza H, 5	1	1	0	0	0	1	13	4.01
JAlvarez	0	2	2	2	0	0	8	3.12
Spooneybarger H, 3	1	0	0	0	1	0	17	4.02
Looper S, 6	1	1	0	0	0	2	19	2.89

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson L, 2-4	7	9	4	4	1	5	96	5.06
Sullivan	1	2	1	1	2	2	34	5.06
Reitsma	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	6.48

JAlvarez pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.

IBB-off Sullivan (BBanks) 1, off PWilson (Hollandsworth) 1.

Umpires-Home, Tim Timmons; First, Bill Hohn; Second, Eric Cooper; Third, Mike Reilly.

T-2:54. A-41,285 (42,263).