By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

CLEVELAND - The longest road trip of the year, which started badly for the Reds, got a lot worse Friday night.

Billy Traber and the Cleveland Indians shut out the Reds 3-0 before a crowd of 29,233 at Jacobs Field. (We'll explain who Traber is later).

The Reds are 1-6 on the 12-game, 14-day trip.

"It's frustrating," Reds shortstop Barry Larkin said. "You make all the excuses you want. But they just beat us tonight."

The Reds, of course, tried to put the usual spin on the rough road so far.

"It's part of the game," Jose Guillen said. "Everyone is playing hard. You win some games, then you go through tough times. You've got to keep battling."

The Reds are 37-41. It's the first time they've been four games under .500 since May 5.

"No matter what happens on the road trip, the season's not going to be over," Larkin said. "But we'd like to win some games on the rest of the trip."

Friday's futility against Traber came after the Reds scored five runs off Matt Morris on Wednesday and seven runs off Woody Williams on Thursday.

They are two of the best starters in the National League.

And Traber?

He was making his sixth career start. He had won none of the previous five. Traber, a 23-year-old left-hander, came to the Indians from the New York Mets in the Roberto Alomar trade. He was the Mets' No. 1 pick in 2000.

"He changed speeds," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "He made use of all of his pitches."

Traber went a career-high seven innings. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out five.

Reds starter Danny Graves was nearly as good. He went seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. It was Graves' best outing since he had blister problems on his finger.

"It's frustrating," he said, using the word of the night for the Reds. "It doesn't matter how good you pitch. If you don't win the game, you didn't do your job."

Graves' outing qualified as a quality start, which generally guarantees a Reds win. Coming into Friday, in fact, the Reds were 21-4 when getting a quality start.

Traber, who came in 2-4 with a 4.56 ERA, retired the first 10 batters he faced.

Graves had only allowed two hits through six innings.

The seventh proved to be eventful for both sides.

Kearns led off the seventh with a single, snapping an 0-for-11 skid. But Aaron Boone hit a comebacker to Traber and he turned a double play.

"That was a big play," Bob Boone said.

That's because of what happened afterward.

Sean Casey and Adam Dunn followed with back-to-back hits. Jason LaRue gave one a ride, sending Milton Bradley to the warning track in center. But it was merely a long out to end the threat.

"We were in position a couple of times," Boone said. "But we couldn't get the big hit."

Bradley started the Indians seventh with a double to right. Jody Gerut followed with a double to left to drive in the game's first run.

Former Red minor leaguer Ben Broussard hit a ball that second baseman Juan Castro fielded but threw past Casey at first. Ricky Gutierrez got a run home with a fielder's choice ground ball, and Brandon Phillips drove in the third run with sharp a single into left.

The Indians had a 3-0 lead.

"There's only one pitch that inning I'd take back - the double to Bradley," Graves said. "They got a couple of key hits. That turned out to be the ballgame."

The three runs in the seventh equaled the Indians' total offensive output in their last series. They lost 3-1, 3-1, 4-1 in a three-game sweep to Kansas City.

The Reds got two runners on with two outs in the ninth. But LaRue struck out to end it.

That made the Reds 0-for-6 on the night with runners in scoring position.

It was only the second time the Reds have been shut out this year. Kelvim Escobar of Toronto shut out them out 5-0 June 8.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	3	0	0	0	1	0	.276
JGuillen rf	4	0	2	0	0	1	.342
Griffey Jr. dh	4	0	0	0	0	3	.258
Kearns cf	4	0	1	0	0	1	.275
ABoone 3b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.265
Casey 1b	3	0	1	0	1	0	.302
Dunn lf	3	0	1	0	1	1	.204
LaRue c	4	0	1	0	0	1	.248
JCastro 2b	2	0	0	0	0	1	.243
Totals	31	0	6	0	3	9

Cleveland	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Crisp lf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.220
Lawton dh	4	0	1	0	0	0	.230
Bradley cf	3	1	1	0	1	2	.348
Gerut rf	4	1	1	1	0	0	.271
Broussard 1b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.262
Gutierrez 3b	2	1	1	1	1	0	.200
Laker c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.259
JMcDonald ss	3	0	1	0	0	0	.256
BPhillips 2b	3	0	1	1	0	1	.214
Totals	30	3	7	3	2	5

Cincinnati	000	000	000	-0	6	1
Cleveland	000	000	30x	-3	7	0

E-JCastro (2). LOB-Cincinnati 8, Cleveland 5. 2B-JGuillen (12), Lawton (14), Bradley (25), Gerut (14). 3B-Crisp (2). RBIs-Gerut (27), Gutierrez (2), BPhillips (21). S-JCastro. GIDP-ABoone, Gerut.

R

DP-Cincinnati 2 (JCastro, Larkin and Casey), (JCastro and Casey); Cleveland 1 (Traber, JMcDonald and Broussard).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves L, 3-7	7	6	3	2	2	3	88	4.93
Heredia	1	1	0	0	0	2	18	2.28

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Traber W, 3-4	7	5	0	0	1	5	97	3.98
Riske H, 7	1	1	0	0	0	2	14	3.31
DBaez S, 17	1	0	0	0	2	2	21	3.32

WP-Graves, DBaez.

T-2:17. A-29,233 (43,368).