By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Barry Larkin leads off second base after doubling in the first inning Thursday against Houston at Great American Ball Park. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

It was a good game, Cincinnati's 5-4 loss to the Houston Astros, but it was an all-around horrendous night for the Reds.

The loss of Thursday's contest - and another game in the NL Central standings - was third on the bad news list for the Reds.

In the sixth inning, Ken Griffey Jr. aggravated a foot injury and was forced to leave the game.

Griffey will have surgery today, and is lost for the season.

Earlier, Austin Kearns was placed on the disabled list because of his bad shoulder.

Said Jose Guillen after the game: "It's really tough when you lose two of your best hitters. We've got a tough stretch coming up."

Secondary to the night's bad news was the way the Reds lost. They had the winning run at second and the tying run at third against Houston closer Billy Wagner in the bottom of the ninth.

Guillen, the Reds' MVP in the first half of the season, almost got the comeback done.

After falling behind 0-2, he took two balls.

"I was looking for a fastball," Guillen said. "I got it, and I hit it good."

But Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell made a diving stop and just beat Guillen to the bag.

"Great at-bat by Guillen," Sean Casey. "But a great play by Bagwell."

When things are going the Reds' way, that ball probably gets through, and Cincinnati gets its 10th walk-off victory of the season.

Bad karma is overwhelming the Reds these days.

The Astros have beaten them seven straight times. Thursday's loss put a serious damper on any flickering hopes the Reds have of winning division. The Reds are 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Astros in the Central - equaling a season-worst.

The night even had a little bit of ugliness. Griffey doubled in the sixth and obviously re-injured the foot that has been bothering for two weeks while rounding first. When it was clear he was coming out of the game, thus ending his club-record streak of games with a home run at five, there was smattering of boos, although cheers quickly drowned them out.

"That's disheartening," Casey said. "Because we've got great fans here. But a lot of people did stand and cheer."

Aside from that incident, it was an exciting night for the 29,366 at Great American Ball Park.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead on back-to-back doubles in the first inning from Barry Larkin and Guillen.

Starter Paul Wilson entered the game coming off the worst start of his career. He gave up eight runs in the first inning and did not retire a batter in his July 10 outing against the Astros - an 11-2 Reds loss.

Thursday, he retired the first four Astros batters he faced.

But things drastically changed after Houston's fifth hitter of the game, Lance Berkman, hit a comebacker that hit off Wilson's left foot. The ball ricocheted to Casey, but Berkman dived to avoid the tag and was safe at first base.

Trainer Mark Mann, pitching coach Don Gullett and Boone went to check on Wilson, who declared himself OK after throwing a couple of warm-up pitches.

Wilson said afterward the hit he took didn't affect him. But five of the next six batters reached on base hits, producing five runs to give the Astros 5-1 lead.

"It may have affected him," Boone said. "But they didn't hit any balls hard."

Wilson lasted six innings and allowed only one hit after the second. That gave the Reds a chance to come back.

The Reds cut Houston's lead to 5-2 on another set of back-to-back doubles by Larkin and Guillen in the third.

The Reds got right back in it in the sixth. Griffey led off with a double, and Aaron Boone singled to drive in pinch-runner Reggie Taylor. Boone moved to second on Casey's flyout to deep center, and Adam Dunn reached on Gregg Zaun's throwing error. Boone moved to third on the play and scored on Jason LaRue's sacrifice fly.

That made the score 5-4, but that was as close at it would get - although it got very interesting in the ninth.

Wagner struck out LaRue and Juan Castro to start the inning. But D'Angelo Jimenez singled, and Larkin hit a ball right at the second-base bag. It got through shortstop Adam Everett, and Jimenez went to third and Larkin to second on the error.

That brought up Guillen. It looked as if the ball might get by Bagwell.

"If it's a foot over, we win the game," Bob Boone said.

But it wasn't that kind of night for the Reds.

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Biggio cf	4	1	1	0	0	1	.273
Blum 3b	5	0	1	2	0	2	.278
Bagwell 1b	4	0	1	0	0	2	.271
JKent 2b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.309
Berkman lf	4	1	2	0	0	1	.282
Hidalgo rf	4	1	3	1	0	0	.323
Zaun c	1	0	0	0	3	0	.226
Ausmus c	0	0	0	0	0	0	.201
AEverett ss	4	1	1	1	0	1	.254
Robertson p	2	1	1	1	0	0	.156
Gallo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Stone p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Bruntlett ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.304
Lidge p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Dotel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Merced ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	.252
BHunter ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.244
Wagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	34	5	11	5	3	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	5	0	2	0	0	2	.357
Larkin ss	4	2	2	0	1	0	.287
JGuillen rf	5	0	2	2	0	1	.338
Griffey Jr. cf	3	0	1	0	0	0	.247
Taylor pr-cf	1	1	0	0	0	0	.214
ABoone 3b	4	1	1	1	0	0	.261
Casey 1b	4	0	0	0	0	0	.300
Dunn lf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.203
LaRue c	3	0	0	1	0	1	.240
PWilson p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.063
Larson ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.082
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JCastro ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.240
Totals	37	4	9	4	1	6

Houston	050	000	000	-5	11	2
Cincinnati	101	002	000	-4	9	0

E-Zaun (4), AEverett (9). LOB-Houston 6, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Biggio (28), Hidalgo (26), AEverett (10), Bruntlett (3), DJimenez (1), Larkin 2 (13), JGuillen 2 (18), Griffey Jr. (12). RBIs-Blum 2 (35), Hidalgo (51), AEverett (26), Robertson (1), JGuillen 2 (51), ABoone (57), LaRue (29). S-Biggio. SF-LaRue. GIDP-JKent, AEverett. DP-Cincinnati 2.

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Robertson W, 9-3	5	8	4	3	0	2	81	4.89
Gallo H, 2	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	6	0.00
Stone H, 4	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	2	3.50
Lidge H, 14	1	0	0	0	1	2	16	2.47
Dotel H, 19	1	0	0	0	0	0	14	2.47
Wagner S, 26	1	1	0	0	0	2	23	2.22

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson L, 5-7	6	7	5	5	2	4	83	5.14
Reitsma	2	4	0	0	1	1	27	4.38
Mercker	1	0	0	0	0	3	12	2.28

Robertson pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored-Gallo 1-1, Stone 1-0.

T-2:44. A-29,366 (42,263).