By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

PHOENIX - Scott Williamson has danced with disaster for most of the year. Friday night, he dealt it with it. Williamson gave up two runs in ninth without retiring a batter as the Reds lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 before 35,842 at Bank One Ballpark.

Williamson walked Tony Womack on five pitches to start the ninth.

"Womack is not the guy you want to walk," Reds manager Bob Boone said.

"I wasn't trying to walk him," Williamson said. "But I was all over the place."

Womack got to third before Williamson threw a pitch to Alex Cintron, the next batter. Williamson threw wild to first on a pick-off attempt. Womack went all the way to third.

"I was wild even when I threw to first," Williamson said.

Womack scored on the next pitch a wild one in the dirt to Cintron. It was a blown save without the bat ever touching the ball.

Cintron would get the count to 3-2 before hitting one in the Reds' bullpen for his fifth home run to win it.

"That's the way it is with this job: You're either a hero or a goat," Williamson said. "Tonight, I was the goat. I feel bad. The guys really battled tonight, and then I give up on in the ninth."

Danny Graves, Friday's starter and last year's closer, knows the feeling.

"It's tough," Graves said. "But it's part of being a closer. It's only his second blown save. That's good for this last in the year. The good thing is he'll keep getting opportunities."

Williamson had not blown a save since giving up a three-run walk-off homer to Eddie Perez in an 8-7 loss in Milwaukee May 17. He converted eight straight since.

A victory would have pulled the Reds to within two games of the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central.

Jose Guillen was the hero before the ninth. He was 3-for-3 with a three RBI against his old team.

"I'm so happy to come back and so them they were wrong," Guillen said.

The Reds treated their old teammate, Elmer Dessens, rather rudely. Dessens went five innings, allowing three runs on six hits. Dessens has only made it through six innings in one of his last eight starts. His ERA is 7.25 over those starts.

Graves was just a little better. He went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. All three were scored in the fifth.

"That one back inning pretty much kills you," Graves said. "I've got to stay away from that. I had been going so well."

Graves was not bothered by the blister that forced him to miss a start. "No problem whatsoever," Graves said.

"That was a big step for him," Boone said. "He's going to get better."

Graves singled one out in the third. An out later, Guillen crushed a low fastball from Dessens. It ended up in the restaurant above left-center field - a shot of 448 feet.

It was Guillen's 13th home run of the year. That's one short of his career high. He had 14 in 1997 and '98 in Pittsburgh. He had 498 at-bats in '97 and 573 in '98. His 13th came in his 170th AB.

Guillen was responsible the Reds' third run as well. With two outs in the fifth, Larkin beat out a slow roller to second.

Guillen followed with a drive to center that hit off the facing of seats about 20 feet above the 413 mark in center. It went about as far as a ball can possibly go in Bank One Ballpark without being a home run. He ended up with a double. But Larkin scored to make it 3-0.

"Any other part of ballpark and that's out," Guillen said.

Graves had found somewhat of a groove by then. But he quickly lost it in the fifth.

Robby Hammock led off with a home run. Dwayne Overbay followed with a double. He went to third on Rod Barajas' long fly to center and scored on pinch-hitter Carlos Baerga's ground out.

Womack tied it with his second home run of the year.

Graves gave up back-to-back singles to Cintron and Steve Finley. That brought up Luis Gonzalez, easily Arizona's most dangerous hitter. Graves got him to out. But it was a 3-3 game.

The Reds took the lead back in the sixth. Austin Kearns led off with a single. After Aaron Boone struck out, Jason LaRue was hit by a pitch for the 10th time this season. Reggie Taylor lined a singled into the right to load the bases.

The Reds sent in Ken Griffey Jr. to pinch-hit for Juan Castro. Griffey spanked one pretty well, but it was right the right fielder. Still, Kearns trotted home to put the Reds up 4-3.

The Reds added a run in the seventh. Guillen walked, went to second on the wild pitch and scored on Sean Casey's single.

The D-Backs scored a run off Gabe White in the seventh to make it 5-4.

Scott Sullivan pitched a scoreless eighth.

The Reds got runners to second and third with two outs in the ninth, but Kearns struck out.

Diamondbacks 6, Reds 5

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	5	1	2	0	0	1	.274
JGuillen lf	2	2	2	3	1	0	.341
Casey 1b	5	0	2	1	0	1	.289
Kearns rf	4	1	1	0	1	1	.287
ABoone 3b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.276
LaRue c	3	0	1	0	0	1	.250
Taylor cf	4	0	1	0	0	2	.231
JCastro 2b	2	0	0	0	0	1	.245
b-Griffey Jr. ph	0	0	0	1	0	0	.269
Olmedo 2b	1	0	0	0	0	0	.263
Graves p	3	1	1	0	0	0	.125
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
e-Branyan ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.136
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	34	5	10	5	2	9

Arizona	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Womack ss	4	3	2	1	1	0	.238
Cintron 2b	5	1	2	1	0	0	.317
SFinley cf	4	0	2	0	0	0	.270
LGonzalez lf	4	0	2	1	0	0	.315
Dellucci rf	3	0	0	0	1	3	.267
Hammock 3b	3	1	1	1	1	1	.339
Overbay 1b	2	1	2	0	1	0	.283
Barajas c	4	0	0	0	0	1	.259
Dessens p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.227
a-Baerga ph	1	0	0	1	0	0	.293
Villarreal p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
c-Grace ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.208
Oropesa p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
d-McCracken ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.202
Valverde p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	33	6	11	5	4	5

Cincinnati	002	011	100	-5	10	1
Arizona	000	030	102	-6	11	1

No outs when winning run scored.

a-grounded out for Dessens in the 5th. b-hit a sacrifice fly for Castro in the 6th. c-lined out for Villarreal in the 6th. d-flied out for Oropesa in the 8th. e-struck out for Sullivan in the 9th.

E-Williamson (1), Cintron (4). LOB-Cincinnati 8, Arizona 8. 2B-Larkin (6), JGuillen (10), Womack (9), LGonzalez 2 (25), Overbay (13). HR-Cintron (5), off Williamson; Womack (2), off Graves; Hammock (3), off Graves; JGuillen (13), off Dessens. RBIs-JGuillen 3 (35), Casey (34), Griffey Jr. (15), Womack (14), Cintron (18), LGonzalez (50), Hammock (14), Baerga (24). SB-Casey (4). CS-JCastro (2). S-JGuillen. SF-Griffey Jr.. GIDP-ABoone, LGonzalez, Barajas.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 5 (Casey, Kearns 3, Graves); Arizona 3 (LGonzalez, Dellucci, Grace).

Runners moved up-Barajas, Baerga.

DP-Cincinnati 2 (Graves, LaRue and Casey), (JCastro, Larkin and Casey); Arizona 1 (Hammock, Cintron and Overbay).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves	5 2/3	8	3	3	3	4	103	5.17
GWhite H, 6	1 1/3	2	1	1	0	1	18	3.93
Sullivan H, 7	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	4.75
Williamson L, 4-3	BS, 2	0	1	2	2	1	0	11	3.30

Arizona	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Dessens	5	6	3	3	0	4	71	5.38
Villarreal	1	2	1	1	0	1	24	3.13
Oropesa	2	1	1	1	2	2	36	3.57
Valverde W, 1-0	1	1	0	0	0	2	25	2.25

Williamson pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-GWhite 2-0.

HBP-by Valverde (JGuillen), by Sullivan (Overbay), by Villarreal (LaRue). WP-Williamson, Oropesa. Balk-Villarreal.

Umpires-Home, Paul Schrieber; First, Angel Hernandez; Second, Randy Marsh; Third, Sam Holbrook.

T-3:06. A-34,842 (49,033).

How they scored

How the runs scored in Friday's game between the Reds and the Diamondbacks:

Reds third. Castro struck out. Graves singled to right. Larkin struck out. Guillen homered to center on the first pitch, Graves scored. Casey grounded out, first baseman Overbay unassisted.

2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on. Reds 2, Diamondbacks 0.

Reds fifth. Castro safe on Cintron's error. Castro was caught stealing, catcher Barajas to shortstop Womack, Castro out. Graves flied out to center fielder Finley. Larkin infield single to second. Guillen doubled to center, Larkin scored. Casey flied out to center fielder Finley.

1 run, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 left on. Reds 3, Diamondbacks 0.

Diamondbacks fifth. Hammock homered to left on a 1-0 count. Overbay doubled to left. Barajas flied out to center fielder Taylor, Overbay to third. Baerga pinch-hitting for Dessens. Baerga grounded out, first baseman Casey unassisted, Overbay scored. Womack homered to right on a 1-0 count. Cintron singled to right. Finley singled to center, Cintron to third. L.Gonzalez flied out to left fielder Guillen.

3 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Diamondbacks 3, Reds 3.

Reds sixth. Villarreal pitching. Kearns singled to center. Boone struck out. On Villarreal's balk, Kearns to second. LaRue was hit by a pitch. Taylor singled to right, Kearns to third, LaRue to second. Griffey Jr. pinch-hitting for Castro. Griffey Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to right fielder Dellucci, Kearns scored. Graves grounded out, third baseman Hammock to first baseman Overbay.

1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Reds 4, Diamondbacks 3.

Reds seventh. Oropesa pitching. Larkin grounded out, pitcher Oropesa to first baseman Overbay. Guillen walked. On Oropesa's wild pitch, Guillen to second. Casey singled to left, Guillen scored. Kearns walked on a full count, Casey to second. Boone grounded into a double play, third baseman Hammock to second baseman Cintron to first baseman Overbay, Kearns out.

1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 left on. Reds 5, Diamondbacks 3.

Diamondbacks seventh. Womack doubled to left. Cintron flied out on a bunt to pitcher White. Finley flied out to center fielder Taylor. L.Gonzalez doubled to right, Womack scored. Dellucci struck out.

1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Reds 5, Diamondbacks 4.

Diamondbacks ninth. Williamson pitching. Womack walked. On Williamson's error on a pickoff attempt, Womack to third. On Williamson's wild pitch, Womack scored. Cintron homered to right on a full count.

2 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 0 left on. Diamondbacks 6, Reds 5.