By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

MILWAUKEE - They made it through the first inning without self-destructing. For the Reds, after the tumult of the previous two nights, that alone was a major achievement Friday at Miller Park.

The sixth inning, then, was merely a bonus.

Cincinnati broke a scoreless tie when it scored four runs off Brewers starter Ben Sheets - two on Ken Griffey Jr.'s fourth homer in as many games - in an eventual 6-1 win before 28,130 fans.

"Now that's a big win," manager Bob Boone said. "We finally had a big game. It seemed like a long time coming."

It was.

Cincinnati ended a season-high eight-game losing streak and moved back into fourth place in the National League Central standings.

Much of the credit goes to starting pitcher Ryan Dempster.

The right-hander, who allowed 13 earned runs in his previous two starts, held the Brewers scoreless through the first five innings and allowed just one run over seven.

"This is the most relaxed I've been since early on in the year," said Dempster, who won for the first time since June 12. "I just kind of took a long look and put everything behind me."

It was the first quality start (six innings, three earned runs or fewer) by a Reds starter in six games, and the first for Dempster since Cincinnati went to its four-man rotation July 1.

"He was magnificent," Boone said.

The Reds' offense provided support after Jimenez began the decisive sixth with a triple to right center field. He scored on a fielder's choice and throwing error to put the Reds ahead 1-0.

Barry Larkin scored on a single by right fielder Jose Guillen.

And Guillen scored when Griffey hit a 405-foot homer over the Reds bullpen in right center field.

"It's like a vitamin," Boone said. "One a day."

It had been more than eight years since Griffey last homered in four straight games.

He is batting .333 with four runs and five RBI in his past four games.

"Hopefully he's getting there," Boone said.

The Reds added two runs in the eighth on a run-scoring double by Guillen and an infield single by third baseman Aaron Boone.

Dempster's performance was a dramatic change from the previous two games, when Reds starters allowed 14 runs combined in the first inning. But the pitching staff's slide extended well beyond the last two games at Houston.

Entering Friday's game, Reds starters had an 0-7 record and 8.40 ERA in their past nine games.

Dempster cruised through the first three innings Friday but ran into trouble in the fourth.

A leadoff walk followed by a pair of singles loaded the bases with nobody out. He got out of the inning without allowing a run thanks to a strikeout and a double play.

"That was really big and kind of gave us a little momentum at the plate," Dempster said. "Any time you do that as a pitcher, get out of there with no runs, it kind of fires the guys up. They went out there and put some runs up in the sixth."

The Brewers scored their only run off Dempster in the sixth when he allowed three consecutive hits.

Milwaukee loaded the bases with two outs in the eight before Reds reliever Scott Sullivan got an inning-ending groundball.

"We've really been struggling, so this is a huge win for us," Dempster said. "I didn't look at it like I was trying to go out and stop something. I just looked at it like going out there and trying to execute some pitches and hopefully win a ballgame."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	5	1	2	0	0	0	.375
Larkin ss	5	2	2	1	0	0	.274
JGuillen rf	5	2	3	2	0	0	.340
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	1	2	1	3	.245
ABoone 3b	5	0	1	0	0	0	.265
Casey 1b	3	0	1	0	1	0	.296
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	1	0	.208
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Stinnett c	4	0	0	0	0	1	.252
Dempster p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.036
Taylor lf	1	0	1	0	0	0	.227
Totals	38	6	11	5	3	6

Milwaukee	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
EYoung 2b	5	0	1	0	0	0	.252
Podsednik cf	5	0	1	0	0	1	.321
Jenkins lf	4	0	0	0	1	3	.280
Sexson 1b	2	0	1	0	2	0	.262
Vander Wal rf	3	1	2	0	0	1	.286
BClark ph-rf	1	0	1	0	0	0	.270
Helms 3b	4	0	1	1	0	1	.248
Osik c	4	0	1	0	0	1	.231
Clayton ss	4	0	1	0	0	0	.213
BSheets p	1	0	1	0	0	0	.095
de los Santos p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
KGinter ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.269
Estrella p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Kieschnick p	0	0	0	0	1	0	.341
Totals	34	1	10	1	4	8

Cincinnati	000	004	020	-6	11	1
Milwaukee	000	001	000	-1	10	2

E-Larkin (7), Helms (13), Estrella (1). LOB-Cincinnati 8, Milwaukee 11. 2B-Larkin (11), JGuillen (16), Podsednik (11), Vander Wal (17). 3B-DJimenez (1). HR-Griffey Jr. (12), off BSheets. RBIs-Larkin (13), JGuillen 2 (47), Griffey Jr. 2 (25), Helms (50). S-BSheets.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Dempster W, 3-6	7	8	1	1	2	7	107	6.55
Heredia	1/3	0	0	0	1	1	11	3.20
Sullivan	1 2/3	2	0	0	1	0	27	3.89

Milwaukee	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
BSheets L, 7-7	5	6	4	4	0	4	84	4.19
de los Santos	2	0	0	0	1	1	23	3.72
Estrella	1	3	2	2	1	1	22	2.36
Kieschnick	1	2	0	0	1	0	21	4.35

IBB-off Kieschnick (Griffey) 1, off Estrella (Dunn) 1. WP-BSheets. Home, Paul Emmel; First, Bill Miller; Second, Joe West; Third, Jeff Kellogg. T-2:44. A-28,130 (41,900).

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

Reds sixth. Jimenez tripled to center. Larkin safe on fielder's choice and Helms' error, Jimenez scored. Guillen singled to center, Larkin scored. Griffey Jr. homered to right on the first pitch, Guillen scored. de los Santos pitching. Boone grounded out, shortstop Clayton to first baseman Sexson. Casey walked on a full count. Dunn grounded into a double play, pitcher de los Santos to shortstop Clayton to first baseman Sexson, Casey out. 4 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 0 left on. Reds 4, Brewers 0.

Brewers sixth. Jenkins struck out. Sexson grounded out, shortstop Larkin to first baseman Casey. Vander Wal doubled to center. Helms singled to left, Vander Wal scored. Osik singled to right, Helms to third. Clayton lined out to second baseman Jimenez. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Reds 4, Brewers 1.

Reds eighth. Estrella pitching. Larkin singled to center. Guillen doubled to center, Larkin scored. Griffey Jr. struck out. Boone infield single to third, Guillen to third. On Estrella's error, Guillen scored, Boone to second. Casey grounded out, shortstop Clayton to first baseman Sexson, Boone to third. Dunn was intentionally walked. Stinnett fouled out to first baseman Sexson. 2 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 2 left on. Reds 6, Brewers 1.