By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati's Adam Dunn hangs his head in the dugout during Pittsburgh's three-run fifth inning. (Associated Press photos) | ZOOM |

PITTSBURGH - There are deficits that are too large for even the better-late-than-never Reds to overcome.

That was the case in Thursday night's 8-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates before a crowd of 19,947 at PNC Park.

Ryan Dempster put the Reds way behind early, and another stirring ninth-inning rally came up short.

"I was positive we would win it," Aaron Boone said. "But that's how it goes."

The ninth started like the Reds' 21 last-at-bat wins. Jose Guillen singled up the middle on the first pitch from Pirate closer Mike Williams, whom the Reds beat the night before. Ken Griffey Jr. doubled to right field, narrowly missing a home run. Adam Dunn walked on four pitches to load the bases. Boone then lined a shot to make it 8-7.

But Russell Branyan stuck out, and Kelly Stinnett grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

"We just got in too big of a hole," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "You can certainly feel (like we'll win) when we come back like that. But sometimes you come up short."

Reds right fielder Jose Guillen makes a catch in the third inning Thursday. | ZOOM |

Dempster allowed a run in all five innings he worked.

"They just beat me," he said. "If I threw good pitches, they hit them. It started with the first batter of the game (Jason Kendall). I threw a good slider. He grounded into left for a double."

The Reds end the road trip 4-8. But, miraculously, they lost only one-half game in the National League Central standings.

"It was a tough road trip," Aaron Boone said. "But we avoided disaster. You're going to go through 12-game stretches like we did."

Getting rest will be tough. The Reds play a 1:15 p.m. game against the New York Mets today at Great American Ball Park.

A sweep here would have completely taken the sting off of the 1-6 start to the trip. But when you're 3 1/2 games back on the Fourth of July, the division looks winnable.

"We felt that all along," Bob Boone said. "... The team that can put on a 10-game win streak is probably going to win the division."

It is virtually impossible to put together a long streak when you start like the Reds did.

Kendall led off the Pirates' first with a double - the first of five straight leadoff hits by the Bucs. Jeff Reboulet singled to score Kendall.

The Reds' tied it in the second, when Ray Olmedo got a run home with an RBI groundout.

The Pirates went back up 2-1 in the bottom of the inning.

The Reds answered in the third. Barry Larkin led off with a double. Guillen got Larkin in with a single.

Matt Stairs hit a two-run homer in the third and the fifth. The shot in the fifth chased Dempster.

It was Dempster's worst outing since coming off the disabled list on June 7. He had been 1-0 with a 3.93 ERA since then, and the Reds had won four of his five starts.

"It's frustrating, because we had a chance to sweep," Dempster said. "We swung the bats well. If I could have kept them down ..."

John Riedling replaced Dempster in Riedling's first outing since coming off the DL a week ago. His second pitch was crushed by Reggie Sanders for a homer.

It was 8-2. But the Reds, as usual, rallied. They scored a pair of runs in the sixth - Dunn tripled, Boone singled and Branyan doubled - to cut it to 8-4.

In the seventh, Larkin singled to start the inning. After an out, Griffey walked and Dunn singled to load the bases. Cincinnati native Scott Sauerbeck walked Boone to force in a run. But he struck out Branyan. Solomon Torres then struck out Stinnett.

The ninth went pretty much the same way. That was a reminder of how the trip started. Overall on the trip, the Reds lost three one-run games, and two two-run games.

"We didn't lose ground," Bob Boone said. "But a swing of the bat here, a good pitch there, and we might be tied with the rest of them."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	5	2	2	0	0	0	.277
JGuillen rf	5	1	2	1	0	1	.350
Griffey Jr. cf	3	1	1	0	2	0	.246
Dunn lf	4	1	2	0	1	0	.212
ABoone 3b	4	2	2	4	1	0	.268
Branyan 1b	3	0	1	1	2	2	.263
Stinnett c	4	0	0	0	1	1	.263
Olmedo 2b	4	0	0	1	0	0	.323
Dempster p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.042
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Taylor ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.222
Van Poppel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Kearns ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.273
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	36	7	11	7	7	5

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Kendall c	3	1	2	0	0	0	.302
Reboulet 2b	5	0	1	2	0	0	.287
BGiles cf	4	1	1	0	0	1	.313
ARamirez 3b	4	1	1	0	0	0	.283
Stairs rf	4	2	2	4	0	1	.283
RSanders lf	4	1	2	1	0	0	.262
Rivera 1b	4	1	0	0	0	1	.167
JWilson ss	4	1	2	0	0	0	.249
Fogg p	1	0	1	0	0	0	.250
Lincoln p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sauerbeck p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
STorres p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
ANunez ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.211
MiWilliams p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	33	8	12	7	1	3

Cincinnati	011	002	102	-7	11	1
Pittsburgh	112	130	00x	-8	12	1

E-Branyan (1), Rivera (1). LOB-Cincinnati 9, Pittsburgh 6. 2B-Larkin (9), Griffey Jr. (11), Branyan (3), Kendall 2 (13), JWilson (13). 3B-Dunn (1). HR-RSanders (13), off Riedling; Stairs 2 (9), off Dempster 2. RBIs-JGuillen (42), ABoone 4 (51), Branyan (6), Olmedo (7), Reboulet 2 (13), Stairs 4 (22), RSanders (35). SB-ABoone (12). CS-ANunez (2). S-Fogg 2. GIDP-Larkin, Dunn, Stinnett, Reboulet. DP-Cincinnati 1, Pittsburgh 3.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Dempster L, 2-5	4	9	7	7	0	2	76	6.65
Riedling	1	2	1	1	0	0	13	6.63
Van Poppel	2	0	0	0	0	1	20	0.00
Reith	1	1	0	0	1	0	18	3.92

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Fogg W, 5-3	5	5	4	3	4	2	92	4.43
Lincoln	1 1/3	1	1	1	0	0	16	5.40
Sauerbeck	1/3	1	0	0	2	1	20	4.50
STorres H, 6	1 1/3	1	0	0	0	1	10	4.52
MiWilliams S, 22	1	3	2	2	1	1	17	6.40

Dempster pitched to 2 batters in the 5th, Fogg pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. Inherited runners-scored-Lincoln 1-0, Sauerbeck 1-1, STorres 3-0.

HBP-by Dempster (Kendall 2).

Umpires-Home, Paul Emmel; First, Bill Miller; Second, Lance Barksdale; Third, Joe West.

T-2:52. A-19,947 (37,898).