By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ken Griffey Jr. watches his home run leave the park during the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

MILWAUKEE - The Reds received help from a most unlikely place Saturday. It wasn't the bullpen and it wasn't the bench. The netting that hangs above the backstop at Miller Park provided the assistance on an Aaron Boone pop-up that kept the Reds' half of the sixth inning going.

Plagued by so much misfortune the past couple weeks, the Reds capitalized on the pop-up misplayed by Brewers catcher Keith Osik with the bases loaded and two outs.

"Any time anything like that happens," Reds manager Bob Boone said, "you've got that 'whew' feeling for sure."

Three pitches after Osik failed to end the inning, Cincinnati tied the game 1-1. Six pitches after that, it extended its lead further on the way to a 5-1 win before 33,977 fans.

After losing eight straight games, Cincinnati has won two straight against last-place Milwaukee.

Saturday's victory, which included Ken Griffey Jr.'s fifth home run in as many games, also assured the Reds of just their second series victory since mid-June.

"It's good that we finally could put two well-played games together," Aaron Boone said. "We made some plays. We pitched. And we had good at-bats. Hopefully we'll just continue it."

One night after starting pitcher Ryan Dempster held the Brewers to one run over seven innings, former Milwaukee pitcher Jimmy Haynes matched his teammate.

The right-hander allowed a leadoff homer to Eric Young in the first inning but settled down and turned in a quality start.

"He was right on tonight," Bob Boone said.

In seven innings, Haynes allowed one run on four hits. Chris Reitsma and Felix Heredia each pitched one scoreless inning of relief.

Though Haynes' record improved to just 2-9, he is 2-5 with a 3.18 ERA since coming off the disabled list May 27.

"I think (being healthy) has a lot to do with it," Haynes said.

Brewers starter Wayne Franklin didn't allow a run until the sixth inning.

He allowed a pair of two-out singles and hit Griffey to load the bases.

Aaron Boone, who will represent Cincinnati in the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Chicago, popped up the third pitch he saw from Franklin.

The ball drifted toward the backstop. Osik pursued and appeared to have a play.

The ball landed in his glove, popped out and brushed against the screen, making it a dead ball, before Osik caught it on the rebound.

"It was a good call," Bob Boone said. "I had a foot on the steps all ready (to argue)."

Down 1-2 in the count, Aaron Boone then walked to push Larkin home and tie the game.

First baseman Sean Casey followed with a two-strike, two-run single to center field that put the Reds ahead 3-1.

"A couple key at-bats turned out to win the game for us," Aaron Boone said.

Cincinnati scored one more in the seventh on a single by Larkin, who fouled off six pitches before getting his hit.

Griffey's homer in the ninth gave the Reds a four-run lead.

Today will mark the end of a brutal stretch in which the Reds will have played 19 of its 22 games away from home leading into the All-Star break.

Cincinnati has won six of the 21 games so far but remains in fourth place, 6 1/2 games behind Houston in the National League Central.

"No one has run away with (the division)," Larkin said. "It's just like people are beating up on each other in the division. Until somebody can really get hot and distance themselves, it's definitely going to be a dogfight."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	4	0	1	0	1	0	.350
Larkin ss	4	1	2	1	1	1	.280
JGuillen rf	5	1	1	0	0	2	.337
Griffey Jr. cf	4	2	1	1	0	1	.245
ABoone 3b	3	0	0	1	2	0	.262
Casey 1b	3	0	1	2	1	1	.296
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	0	2	.206
Stinnett c	4	1	2	0	0	1	.260
JHaynes p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Branyan ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.234
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Totals	33	5	8	5	5	9

Milwaukee	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
EYoung 2b	4	1	1	1	0	0	.252
Podsednik cf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.320
Jenkins lf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.277
Sexson 1b	3	0	1	0	1	1	.262
Vander Wal rf	3	0	0	0	0	1	.282
BClark ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.268
Helms 3b	3	0	2	0	0	0	.252
Osik c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.226
Clayton ss	3	0	0	0	0	0	.211
WFranklin p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.108
Kolb p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Nance p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Estrella p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Kieschnick ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333
DeJean p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	31	1	5	1	1	4

Cincinnati	000	003	101	-5	8	0
Milwaukee	100	000	000	-1	5	2

.

E-Helms (14), Clayton (10). LOB-Cincinnati 9, Milwaukee 4. 2B-Stinnett 2 (12), Podsednik (12). HR-Griffey Jr. (13), off DeJean; EYoung (12), off JHaynes. RBIs-Larkin (14), Griffey Jr. (26), ABoone (53), Casey 2 (44), EYoung (27). S-JHaynes. GIDP-Griffey Jr., Osik.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JHaynes W, 2-9	7	4	1	1	1	2	87	5.29
Reitsma H, 3	1	0	0	0	0	1	10	4.62
Heredia	1	1	0	0	0	1	21	3.14

Milwaukee	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
WFranklin L, 5-6	6 1/3	6	4	4	3	7	99	4.81
Kolb	2/3	1	0	0	0	0	17	3.00
Nance	0	0	0	0	2	0	15	6.28
Estrella	1	0	0	0	0	1	7	2.29
DeJean	1	1	1	1	0	1	11	4.96

Nance pitched to 3 batters in the 8th.

Inherited runners-scored-Kolb 2-1, Estrella 3-0.

HBP-by Nance (Dunn), by WFranklin (Griffey Jr.).

Umpires-Home, Bill Miller; First, Joe West; Second, Jeff Kellogg; Third, Paul Emmel.

T-2:34. A-33,977 (41,900).