By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

PHOENIX - The Diamondback dominance of the Reds continues.

There wasn't any dramatic finish Saturday for Arizona, just a routine 5-3 win for the home team. But for the D-Backs, home and road doesn't matter when it comes to the Reds. Arizona wins anywhere.

Saturday's win was the D-Backs' 13th straight over the Reds, dating back to May of 2001.

Jimmy Anderson (1-4) took the loss for the Reds. Anderson gave up three runs in the first, retired 17 of 18, then gave up two more in the seventh on a two-run homer by Chad Moeller.

"That's his nemesis," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "A little wildness, then the big bomb."

John Patterson, a 25-year-old rookie right-hander, went a career-high 7 2/3 innings to earn his first victory of the year. Patterson had a 8.53 ERA entering the game.

The Reds have lost three of their last four.

The mini-skid comes at a bad time. The Chicago Cubs have lost three straight. That allowed Houston to move into first place in the National League Central. St. Louis is now tied with Chicago, a half game out. The Reds are 31/2 games back

"We needed to get this one tonight," Anderson said. "That's what I'm most upset about. It's a bad way to start a road trip - 0-2."

The loss wasn't all Anderson's fault. The offense is struggling. The Reds have averaged 2.71 runs per game over their last seven games.

"We didn't hit," Boone said. "The middle of the order didn't hit. We didn't score enough points."

The No. 3, 4 and 5 hitters -- Ken Griffey Jr., Austin Kearns and Aaron Boone -- went a combined 1-for-11 with seven strikeouts.

The Reds had a run in scoring position with fewer than two outs in the sixth, seventh and ninth. None scored.

Anderson, making his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Louisville, got two outs on three pitches to start the first.

Then the trouble came.

He walked Alex Cintron, Luis Gonzalez reached on an infield single, and Robby Hammock walked to load the bases. Steve Finley got two runs in with a double to right-center. Hammock scored on a passed ball to make it 3-0.

"I lost my mechanics there for a little bit," he said. "I was able to get them back."

The Reds got two runs back in the third. Jason LaRue doubled and went to third on a wild pitch. Juan Castro singled to score LaRue. Anderson bunted Castro to second. An out later, he scored on Jose Guillen's single to center.

The Reds tied it in the fourth with a gift run. Griffey, back in the starting lineup after missing four starts with a sore hip, walked to lead off the inning.

Kearns, mired in 1-for-14 slump, struck out, as did Aaron Boone. But with Sean Casey at the plate, Griffey broke toward second. The Diamondbacks pitched out on the play, but catcher Moeller threw about three feet over shortstop Tony Womack's head. Griffey was headed to third when center fielder Finley fell down fielding the errant throw. Griffey came all the way around to score and make it 3-3.

By then, Anderson was rolling. He allowed a one-out single to Patterson in the second. After that, Anderson retired 15 in a row - only one of the 15 left the infield.

But in two pitches all that turned around. Lyle Overbay doubled off the wall in center with one out in the seventh.

Moeller followed by hitting the next pitch out for his fifth home run of the year.

That made it 5-3, and that's how it stayed.

"I was trying to throw a breaking ball for a strike," Anderson said. "I hung it. I didn't think he was going to swing at it."

The ironic thing was Anderson was on deck when the Reds' seventh ended. Had Castro reached, the Reds would have pinch hit for Anderson.

"We were trying to get him out," Boone said. "We were going to hit for him."

Diamondbacks 5, Reds 3

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	4	0	1	0	0	1	.273
JGuillen lf	4	0	2	1	0	1	.345
Griffey Jr. cf	3	1	0	0	1	3	.262
Kearns rf	4	0	1	0	0	2	.287
ABoone 3b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.272
Casey 1b	4	0	2	0	0	0	.292
LaRue c	3	1	1	0	1	0	.251
JCastro 2b	4	1	1	1	0	0	.245
JAnderson p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.143
a-Taylor ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.228
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Totals	32	3	8	2	2	9

Arizona	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Womack ss	4	0	0	0	0	0	.234
Kata 2b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.235
Cintron 3b	3	1	0	0	1	0	.310
LGonzalez lf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.314
Hammock rf	2	1	0	0	2	0	.328
SFinley cf	4	0	1	2	0	1	.270
Overbay 1b	3	1	1	0	0	2	.284
Moeller c	3	1	1	2	0	0	.317
JoPatterson p	3	0	1	0	0	0	.111
Oropesa p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Valverde p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	30	5	6	4	3	4

Cincinnati	002	100	000	-3	8	0
Arizona	300	000	20x	-5	6	2

a-flied out for Anderson in the 8th.

E-SFinley (3), Moeller (5). LOB-Cincinnati 5, Arizona 4. 2B-JGuillen (11), Kearns (11), LaRue (15), Kata (2), SFinley (10), Overbay (14). HR-Moeller (5), off JAnderson. RBIs-JGuillen (36), JCastro (10), SFinley 2 (27), Moeller 2 (14). SB-Griffey Jr. (1), Hammock (1). S-JAnderson.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3 (Kearns, JCastro 2); Arizona 3 (SFinley 2, Overbay).

Runners moved up-Casey, Cintron.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JAnderson L, 1-4	7	5	5	4	2	4	92	7.22
Heredia	1	1	0	0	1	0	14	2.49

Arizona	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JoPatterson W, 1-3	7 2/3	7	3	3	1	7	104	7.09
Oropesa H, 3	1/3	0	0	0	0	1	4	3.50
Valverde S, 6	1	1	0	0	1	1	22	2.00

Inherited runners-scored-Oropesa 1-0.

IBB-off Heredia (Hammock) 1. WP-JoPatterson 2. PB-LaRue.

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

T-2:16. A-40,041 (49,033).

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

Diamondbacks first. Womack grounded out, shortstop Larkin to first baseman Casey. Kata grounded out, third baseman Boone to first baseman Casey. Cintron walked on four pitches. L.Gonzalez infield single to first, Cintron to second. Hammock walked, Cintron to third, L.Gonzalez to second. Finley doubled to center, Cintron scored, L.Gonzalez scored, Hammock to third. On LaRue's passed ball, Hammock scored, Finley to third. Overbay struck out.

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

Reds third. LaRue doubled to center. On Patterson's wild pitch, LaRue to third. Castro singled to center, LaRue scored. Anderson sacrificed, third baseman Cintron to second baseman Kata, Castro to second. Larkin fouled out to third baseman Cintron. Guillen singled to center, Castro scored. Guillen was out advancing, center fielder Finley to first baseman Overbay, Guillen out.

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

Reds fourth. Griffey Jr. walked on a full count. Kearns struck out. Boone struck out. Griffey Jr. stole second, on catcher Moeller's throwing error, Griffey Jr. to third. On Finley's error, Griffey Jr. scored. Casey singled to center. Casey was out advancing, center fielder Finley to shortstop Womack to second baseman Kata, Casey out.

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

Diamondbacks seventh. Finley struck out. Overbay doubled to center. Moeller homered to left on the first pitch, Overbay scored. Patterson grounded out, second baseman Castro to first baseman Casey. Womack grounded out, second baseman Castro to first baseman Casey.

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