The Associated Press

The Reds scored five runs in the ninth inning today but still came up short in losing to the Houston Astros for the ninth straight time 9-8. The loss dropped the Reds (43-53) into fifth place 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Astros.

The highlight for the Reds: Right-hander Ryan Wagner, the Reds' No. 1 pick and 14th overall selection in last month's draft, retired all five batters in his major league debut.

Wagner, the first player from this year's draft to reach the majors, got pinch-hitter Brian Hunter swinging for his first major league strikeout. Thirteen of his 16 pitches were strikes.

The Reds, trailing 9-3 entering the ninth, didn't go down without a fight. Sean Casey hit an RBI double and Ruben Mateo, 2-for-4 with three RBIs, had a run-scoring single off Kirk Saarloos. Octavio Dotel came in and gave up a pinch-hit homer to Jason LaRue, making it 9-8.

After walking Kelly Stinnett, Dotel got two outs for his fourth save.

Lance Berkman, who two homers and five RBIs, hit the first of three straight first-inning homers for the Astros, who have won four in a row and nine of their last 10.

The NL Central-leading Astros (53-44) needed just six pitches from Reds starter Jimmy Haynes (2-10) to take a 5-0 first-inning lead.

Craig Biggio hit a leadoff single, Jeff Bagwell was hit by a pitch with one out and Berkman homered.

Richard Hidalgo, who hit two homers in Houston's win Friday night, followed with his third in less than 24 hours. Two pitches later, Morgan Ensberg made it three homers in a row.

The Reds allowed three homers in one inning for the third time this season, and three in a row for the second time.

"In our last 10 games, we've had about four of those," manager Bob Boone said of the Astros' big inning. "That's not good. Our starting staff is putting us in big holes."

Houston increased its lead to 6-0 in the second when Biggio was credited with a hit on a soft liner that glanced off shortstop Barry Larkin's glove and scored from first on Geoff Blum's double.

When Bagwell followed with a walk, Haynes was taken out. He allowed six hits and six runs in 1 1-3 innings, the shortest outing of his 49 starts in two seasons with the Reds.

"The only pitch I had control over was the split-finger, and that wasn't that good," Haynes said. "Everything just felt bad - mechanics, body, arm. I was just tumbling my breaking balls."

Berkman led off the fifth with his second homer for his first multihomer game of the season and 12th of his career.

The Astros got five walks from two Cincinnati relievers to add two runs in the sixth.

Mateo and Stinnett hit RBI singles in the eighth for the Reds.

Notes: The Astros' nine consecutive wins over Cincinnati have come after they lost the first game of the season between the teams. ... LaRue's homer was his first as a pinch-hitter, and the seventh for the Reds this season. ... Biggio's first-inning single gave him 2,400 hits, making him the 96th player in major league history with that many hits. ... As expected, Houston 2B Jeff Kent got the day off after starting the first two games following his activation from the DL. ... The sellout crowd was the ninth of the regular season for the Reds in their first year at Great American Ball Park ... The loss was Cincinnati's season-high sixth in a row at home. The Reds' last home win was June 19.

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Totals	38	9	10	9	8	7
Biggio cf	4	3	2	0	1	0	.275
PMunro p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Gallo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
d-Merced ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.252
Saarloos p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Dotel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Blum 2b	5	1	1	1	1	0	.273
Bagwell 1b	2	1	0	0	2	0	.274
Berkman lf	3	2	2	5	2	1	.282
Hidalgo rf	5	1	2	1	0	2	.333
Ensberg 3b	4	1	1	2	1	1	.310
Ausmus c	5	0	1	0	0	1	.201
Bruntlett ss	5	0	1	0	0	0	.276
Villone p	3	0	0	0	0	1	.071
b-BHunter ph-cf	2	0	0	0	0	1	.239

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Totals	38	8	14	8	5	11
DJimenez 2b	6	0	2	0	0	3	.342
Larkin ss	3	0	0	0	1	1	.275
JCastro ss	1	0	0	0	0	0	.239
JGuillen rf	5	2	2	0	0	2	.335
Casey 1b	5	3	3	1	0	0	.301
ABoone 3b	4	1	2	0	1	0	.266
RMateo cf-lf	4	1	2	3	0	2	.236
Dunn lf	2	0	1	0	1	1	.203
Wagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
c-Branyan ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.224
JoAcevedo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
e-LaRue ph	1	1	1	3	0	0	.241
Stinnett c	3	0	1	1	1	1	.257
JHaynes p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Riedling p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.235
a-Larson ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.080
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Taylor cf	1	0	0	0	1	1	.224

Houston	510	012	000	-9	10	0
Cincinnati	000	100	025	-8	14	2

a-grounded into double play for Riedling in the 4th. b-struck out for Villone in the 7th. c-flied out for Heredia in the 8th. d-walked for Gallo in the 9th. e-homered for Acevedo in the 9th.

E-Larkin (8), ABoone (12). LOB-Houston 11, Cincinnati 11. 2B-Blum (15), Casey (14), ABoone (17). HR-LaRue (11), off Dotel; Ensberg (18), off JHaynes; Hidalgo (17), off JHaynes; Berkman 2 (19), off Reith, JHaynes. RBIs-Blum (36), Berkman 5 (64), Hidalgo (54), Ensberg 2 (46), Casey (49), RMateo 3 (8), LaRue 3 (32), Stinnett (17). SF-RMateo. GIDP-Bagwell, JGuillen, Larson.

Runners left in scoring position-Houston 5 (Blum, Hidalgo, Ensberg, Ausmus 2); Cincinnati 6 (DJimenez 2, Larkin, ABoone 2, Dunn).

Runners moved up-Casey, ABoone.

DP-Houston 2 (Ensberg, Blum and Bagwell), (Ensberg, Blum and Bagwell); Cincinnati 1 (Larkin, DJimenez and Casey).

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Villone W, 2-0	6	6	1	1	2	7	96	2.50
PMunro	1 2/3	4	2	2	0	1	35	5.05
Gallo	1/3	0	0	0	1	1	11	0.00
Saarloos	1/3	3	4	4	1	0	20	7.39
Dotel S, 4	2/3	1	1	1	1	2	19	2.60

TableStyle: SPORT-BBN_EXPTEAMS4CCI Template: BBA_EXPTEAMS3

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JHaynes L, 2-10	1 1/3	6	6	6	1	1	42	5.86
Riedling	2 2/3	0	0	0	0	3	38	5.92
Reith	1 1/3	2	3	3	3	1	33	4.20
Mercker	2/3	0	0	0	2	1	19	2.22
Wagner	1 2/3	0	0	0	0	1	16	0.00
Heredia	1/3	1	0	0	1	0	14	2.93
JoAcevedo	1	1	0	0	1	0	21	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-Gallo 2-0, Dotel 2-2, Riedling 2-0, Mercker 3-2.

HBP-by PMunro (Taylor), by Villone (Stinnett), by JHaynes (Bagwell).

Umpires-Home, Larry Poncino; First, Phil Cuzzi; Second, Jerry Crawford; Third, Brian O'Nora.

T-3:27. A-41,772 (42,263).

How the runs scored:

Astros first. Biggio singled to center. Blum flied out to left fielder Dunn. Bagwell was hit by a pitch, Biggio to second. Berkman homered to right on a 2-0 count, Biggio scored, Bagwell scored. Hidalgo homered to center on a 0-1 count. Ensberg homered to left on a 2-0 count. Ausmus grounded out, shortstop Larkin to first baseman Casey. Bruntlett flied out to center fielder Mateo.

5 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on. Astros 5, Reds 0.

Astros second. Villone struck out. Biggio singled to left. Blum doubled to right, Biggio scored. Bagwell walked on a full count. Riedling pitching. Berkman struck out. Hidalgo struck out.

1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Astros 6, Reds 0.

Reds fourth. Casey singled to center. Boone doubled to left, Casey to third. Mateo hit a sacrifice fly to left fielder Berkman, Casey scored. Dunn singled to center, Boone to third. Stinnett was hit by a pitch, Dunn to second. Larson pinch-hitting for Riedling. Larson grounded into a double play, third baseman Ensberg to second baseman Blum to first baseman Bagwell, Stinnett out.

1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Astros 6, Reds 1.

Astros fifth. Reith pitching. Berkman homered to left on the first pitch. Hidalgo fouled out to first baseman Casey. Ensberg struck out. Ausmus singled to center. Bruntlett grounded out, first baseman Casey unassisted.

1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Astros 7, Reds 1.

Astros sixth. Villone flied out to left fielder Dunn. Biggio walked. Blum walked, Biggio to second. Bagwell walked on four pitches, Biggio to third, Blum to second. Mercker pitching. Berkman walked on four pitches, Biggio scored, Blum to third, Bagwell to second. Hidalgo struck out. Ensberg walked on a full count, Blum scored, Bagwell to third, Berkman to second. Ausmus fouled out to first baseman Casey.

2 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 3 left on. Astros 9, Reds 1.

Reds eighth. Guillen singled to right. Casey singled to right, Guillen to second. Boone flied out to right fielder Hidalgo, Guillen to third. Mateo singled to left, Guillen scored, Casey to second. Branyan pinch-hitting for Heredia. Branyan flied out to left fielder Berkman. Stinnett singled to right, Casey scored, Mateo to third. Gallo pitching. Taylor walked, Stinnett to second. Jimenez struck out.

2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 3 left on. Astros 9, Reds 3.

Reds ninth. Saarloos pitching. Castro flied out to center fielder Hunter. Guillen singled to center. Casey doubled to left, Guillen scored. Boone walked. Mateo singled to center, Casey scored, Boone to second. LaRue pinch-hitting for Acevedo. Dotel pitching. LaRue homered to right on a 1-0 count, Boone scored, Mateo scored. Stinnett walked on a full count. Taylor struck out. Jimenez struck out.

5 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Astros 9, Reds 8.