By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

All it took to end the Reds' skid was a Houdini-like escape from Gabe White and a pinch-hit grand slam from Adam Dunn.

PHOTO GALLERY

Monday's game

The impressive start by John Riedling, followed by the bullpen blowup, were merely a prelude to the extra-inning high-wire act and near-collapse by the Reds in bottom of the 11th.

In the end, it all added up to 7-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves Sunday before a crowd of 33,455 at Turner Field.

"Just another day at the office," said White, who got the win with as good a two-thirds of an inning pitched that you'll ever see.

It was the 13th time this season the Reds have won in their last at-bat, and the win snapped a four-game losing streak.

"We've played terrible the last four games," Dunn said. "To come in here and win the first game against these guys, who are absolutely red hot, is big for us."

The Reds, swept by Florida over the weekend, are 3-1 against Atlanta, which has baseball's best record.

The credit in this one goes to White, who walked into a nearly impossible situation.

Scott Sullivan started the 10th, and proceeded to walk the meat of the Atlanta order after starting with a routine flyout. Enter White.

"Bases loaded, one out, tie game on the road," White said. "That's not what you really want."

White needed a strikeout, popup or double play against Robert Fick, the first batter he faced.

He got Fick swinging. That allowed the defense to play at normal depth.

What followed was a classic confrontation with Javy Lopez. Lopez came into the game on a 7-for-11, four-homer tear over his last four games.

White started him with a strike. The count went ball-strike from there to 3-2.

"Once it gets to 3-2, you lose the corners," White said.

Lopez fouled off five two-strike pitches before White got him to fly out to right to end the inning, sending the game to the 11th tied at 3-3.

Kelly Stinnett started the winning rally with a single. Felipe Lopez tried to bunt him over. Third baseman Vinnie Castilla came up throwing to second, but shortstop Rafael Furcal bobbled the ball, and Stinnett was safe.

Rainer Olmedo laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt. The Braves walked Aaron Boone to get to Dunn, who lashed the third pitch for his 18th home run of the year, and the second slam of his career.

Vinnie Castilla led off the Braves' 11th with a single off Felix Heredia. After an out, he walked Furcal.

Marcus Giles followed with a routine single that went under left fielder Jose Guillen's glove, and two runs scored.

After an out, Chipper Jones made it a one-run game with an infield single. But Heredia struck out Andruw Jones.

Riedling pitched 6 2/3 innings of five-hit shutout ball. Guillen accounted for the Reds' first two runs, homering in the first and doubling in the third. Riedling's first career RBI in the fourth made it 3-0.

Boone pulled Riedling in the seventh. The 3-0 lead went away in the eighth. Chris Reitsma allowed three runs on four hits. It was the ninth time this year a Reds setup man has failed to hold a lead.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 2b	3	1	2	0	0	0	.278
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.143
Taylor ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.250
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Dunn ph	1	1	1	4	0	0	.227
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
JGuillen lf	6	1	3	2	0	1	.344
Griffey Jr. cf	5	0	0	0	1	2	.273
Kearns rf	5	0	0	0	0	0	.303
Casey 1b	5	0	0	0	0	3	.303
Stinnett c	4	1	3	0	1	1	.333
WPena pr	0	1	0	0	0	0	.083
LaRue c	0	0	0	0	0	0	.248
FLopez 3b-ss	5	1	1	0	0	1	.234
Olmedo ss-2b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Riedling p	3	0	2	1	0	1	.231
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
ABoone 3b	1	1	0	0	1	0	.254
Totals	43	7	12	7	3	12

Atlanta	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Furcal ss	5	2	3	0	1	1	.333
MGiles 2b	6	1	1	1	0	1	.324
Sheffield rf	5	0	1	0	1	1	.354
CJones lf	5	1	2	1	1	1	.291
AJones cf	4	1	1	0	2	1	.293
Fick 1b	5	0	2	2	0	1	.287
JLopez c	4	0	0	0	1	1	.286
Bong p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Castilla 3b	5	1	2	0	0	1	.283
Hampton p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.231
Gryboski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
King p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Holmes p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
MFranco ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	.289
DeRosa ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.186
Hodges p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Smoltz p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JuFranco ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.274
RHernandez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Blanco c	1	0	0	0	0	0	.217
Totals	43	6	12	4	6	8

Cincinnati	101	100	000	04	-7	12	1
Atlanta	000	000	030	03	-6	12	3

E-JGuillen (6), Furcal 2 (12), Castilla (6). LOB-Cincinnati 8, Atlanta 11. 2B-JGuillen (7), Furcal (12), AJones (8). 3B-Furcal (7). HR-Dunn (18), off RHernandez; JGuillen (10), off Hampton. RBIs-Dunn 4 (40), JGuillen 2 (28), Riedling (1), MGiles (30), CJones (30), Fick 2 (27). S-Freel, Olmedo, Hampton. GIDP-Olmedo.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3 (JGuillen, Kearns, Casey); Atlanta 5 (MGiles, CJones, JLopez 2, Castilla).

Runners moved up-FLopez, MGiles, Sheffield.

DP-Atlanta 1 (Furcal, MGiles and Fick).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Riedling	6 2/3	5	0	0	2	4	100	4.64
Mercker H, 7	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	5	2.50
Reitsma BS, 1	1	4	3	3	0	1	27	7.27
Williamson	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	3.80
Sullivan	1/3	0	0	0	3	0	21	5.00
GWhite W, 2-0	2/3	0	0	0	0	1	16	2.66
Heredia	1	3	3	2	1	1	22	2.79

Atlanta	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Hampton	6	6	3	3	2	9	119	4.34
Gryboski	1/3	2	0	0	0	0	8	5.40
King	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	4	2.61
Holmes	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.50
Hodges	1	2	0	0	0	0	11	2.22
Smoltz	1	0	0	0	0	2	15	1.00
RHernandez L, 4-2	1 1/3	2	4	3	1	1	27	4.72
Bong	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	12	4.01

Inherited runners-scored-GWhite 3-0, Mercker 1-0, King 2-0, Holmes 2-0.

IBB-off RHernandez (ABoone) 1.

T-4:17. A-33,455 (50,091).