By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds starter Paul Wilson had a difficult Wednesday night in St. Louis. (Associated Press photos) | ZOOM |

ST. LOUIS - About the time Ken Griffey Jr. launched one high and deep toward right field in the first inning Wednesday night, you had to figure the Reds were in pretty good shape.

When the ball landed, the Reds had a three-run lead, and Paul Wilson, Wednesday's starter, had not allowed more than two runs in his last four starts.

But Wilson promptly gave the lead up in the first inning, allowed four more runs in the second, and the Reds lost 9-6 to the Cardinals before 34,863 at Busch Stadium.

"Bad day," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "There wasn't much coming out the first two innings."

Wilson (5-5) had won three straight decisions, and took Wednesday's outing hard.

"(The team) did everything right tonight," he said. "They hit the ball. They played great defense. But they got a (lousy) game from me. That's going to keep me awake tonight."

It was only the second win for the Cardinals in nine games against the Reds this year, and it came at a bad time for Cincinnati. The Reds missed a chance to move within three games of the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. The Cubs lost 12-6 to Milwaukee, and the Reds remain in fourth place - four games back. The Cards and Houston Astros are one game out.

Sean Casey, back in the leadoff spot for the second time, started the game with a double down the left field line. After Barry Larkin walked, Griffey followed with his ninth home run of the year.

It was the 476th home run of Griffey's career, moving him one past Willie Stargell and Stan Musial and into sole possession of 22nd place on the all-time list.

Griffey has kept only eight of his 476 home run balls. But he grabbed No. 476, which came on wife Melissa's birthday.

"It's a cheap gift," he said. "She collects more things than I do."

St. Louis' Bo Hart hits a solo home run Wednesday in the first inning against Paul Wilson. | ZOOM |

The lead didn't last the rest of the inning. Bo Hart, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen hit solo homers in the bottom of the first to tie it.

"I was getting the ball up," Wilson said.

The second inning was even more disappointing for Wilson. He got the first two outs routinely, then gave up a single to St. Louis starter Matt Morris, and the floodgates opened. The Cards followed with four straight hits to make it 7-3.

The seven runs were the most allowed by Wilson since he allowed a career-high nine in a 9-6 loss to San Francisco on May 3. Wilson's ERA over his last seven starts before Wednesday was 3.15.

"I'm disappointed because I felt good," he said.

Wilson would settle down, and ended up going six innings, but the damage was already done.

The Reds kept pecking away, and got a run in the third when Larkin singled and scored on Aaron Boone's double.

They got another in the fourth. Rainer Olmedo singled, Wilson bunted him over, and Casey got him in with a single to right.

That gave Casey five straight two-hit games.

Casey scored in the seventh on Griffey's soft roller to third. It was the Reds' last hurrah.

The Cardinals added two runs in the eighth inning, when they loaded the bases against Brian Reith, recalled from Louisville earlier in the day.

For the second straight night, the Reds brought in a starter as a reliever. Ryan Dempster faced Eduardo Perez, who grounded a ball just inside the third-base line to score two runs and make it 9-6.

"It was Dempster's sideline day," Boone said. "I wanted to save the 'pen. It was just a glorified sideline."

The only excitement from the Reds in the ninth came with pinch-hitter Jose Guillen's ejection for arguing a third strike call by umpire Matt Hollowell.

Players suspended after Cubs brawl

Paul Wilson was suspended for five games for his part in the Reds brawl last week with the Chicago Cubs.

Kyle Farnsworth of the Cubs got three days. Both were fined, as was Russell Branyan for his part in the melee.

"I'm planning on appealing," Wilson said. "I'm going to talk to my agent. But, as of now, I plan to appeal."

Wilson started Wednesday's game.

The fight started when Farnsworth nearly hit Wilson with a pitch as Wilson squared to bunt. He said something to Farnsworth, who said something back. Wilson took a step toward Farnsworth, who charged him and threw him to the ground. Both benches and dugouts emptied. Branyan had to be restrained from going after Eric Karros after the fight calmed down. Branyan thought Karros hit Wilson when he was down, but replays proved Branyan wrong and he apologized.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Casey 1b	5	2	3	1	0	0	.306
Larkin ss	3	2	2	0	1	0	.283
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	1	4	0	1	.265
Kearns rf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.276
ABoone 3b	4	0	1	1	0	2	.272
Dunn lf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.200
Stinnett c	4	0	0	0	0	1	.278
Olmedo 2b	3	1	1	0	0	0	.273
JGuillen ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.337
PWilson p	1	0	1	0	0	0	.077
WPena ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.088
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Dempster p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.045
Branyan ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.125
Totals	35	6	9	6	1	7

St. Louis	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Hart 2b	5	2	3	1	0	0	.500
OPalmeiro rf	3	1	1	1	0	0	.291
EduPerez ph-rf	2	0	1	2	0	0	.289
Pujols lf	5	1	2	2	0	0	.387
Edmonds cf	4	1	2	2	0	0	.300
Rolen 3b	3	1	2	1	1	0	.291
TMartinez 1b	3	0	0	0	1	1	.271
Renteria ss	4	0	0	0	0	0	.336
Matheny c	4	1	1	0	0	0	.274
Morris p	2	1	1	0	0	0	.206
Robinson ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.194
Painter p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Eldred p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
JDrew ph	0	1	0	0	1	0	.319
Isringhausen p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	36	9	13	9	3	1

Cincinnati	301	100	100	-6	9	0
St. Louis	340	000	02x	-9	13	0

LOB-Cincinnati 4, St. Louis 6. 2B-Casey (13), ABoone (15), Pujols (29), Edmonds (19). HR-Rolen (13), off PWilson; Edmonds (20), off PWilson; Hart (1), off PWilson; Griffey Jr. (8), off Morris. RBIs-Casey (38), Griffey Jr. 4 (19), ABoone (47), Hart (4), OPalmeiro (18), EduPerez 2 (16), Pujols 2 (68), Edmonds 2 (47), Rolen (52). S-PWilson. GIDP-Pujols.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (ABoone, Olmedo and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson L, 5-5	6	9	7	7	1	0	101	4.63
Heredia	1	1	0	0	1	1	16	2.33
Reith	1/3	2	2	2	1	0	16	4.86
Dempster	2/3	1	0	0	0	0	7	6.49

St. Louis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Morris W, 8-5	6	7	5	5	1	3	90	3.85
Painter H, 2	2/3	2	1	1	0	0	13	3.52
Eldred H, 2	1 1/3	0	0	0	0	2	18	5.04
Isringhausen S, 2	1	0	0	0	0	2	11	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-Dempster 3-2, Eldred 1-0.

IBB-off Heredia (Rolen) 1.

Umpires-Home, Matt Hollowell; First, Eric Cooper; Second, Tim Timmons; Third, Bill Hohn.

T-2:38. A-34,863 (50,354).