You might say Jeff Bagwell's two homers off Danny Graves today threw the last handful of dirt on the Reds' grave.
Houston's 6-3 victory completed a four-game sweep and buried the Reds 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Astros. That's deeper than six feet under. They are dead like meat.
Graves (4-10) is 1-8 in his last 11 starts since May 14. He allowed eight hits and five runs in 6 1-3 innings and lost his third straight start.
Bagwell, who joined the 400-homer club with his second blast, drove in Houston's first four runs as the Astros beat the Reds for the 10th straight time.
"It's frustrating," Graves said. "I'm tired of it. A lot of guys are tired of it. You hate to lose. I made a few mistakes, and they took advantage. With a team that hits as well as they do, you can't make mistakes. With a lot of teams, you talk about one guy you don't want to let beat you. With (Houston), it's three or four."
The Reds have lost seven in a row at home, matching their longest skid since dropping nine straight in Cincinnati in 2001.
Bagwell moved past Dale Murphy (398) and Al Kaline on the career home run list. Hall-of-Famer Duke Snider is next up in 34th place with 407.
"I'm glad I got it over with," Bagwell said. "More important, I'm just glad that we won. It just means that I've played a long time."
"The two homers were fastballs up," Graves said. "I wasn't trying to throw them up, but he's a lowball hitter. He always kills my sinker."
Wade Miller (7-9) allowed three runs - two earned - and three hits in 5 1-3 innings to improve to 5-0 in 10 career appearances against the Reds. Miller struck out nine.
Jeff Kent also added a solo homer in the ninth for Houston, his 12th of the season and first since June 18. He was sidelined the next day with tendinitis in his left wrist and activated after the All-Star game.
The Astros manufactured a run in the first. Craig Biggio led off with a double, moved to third on Morgan Ensberg's groundout and scored on Bagwell's sacrifice fly.
Ensberg singled to lead off the fourth, and Bagwell followed with his 19th homer of the season. He took over the team lead with a two-out solo shot in the sixth.
Bagwell became the third Houston player in three games to hit two homers, following Richard Hidalgo on Friday and Lance Berkman on Saturday. Twelve players have recorded multihomer games against the Reds this season.
Miller didn't allow a hit until Jose Guillen singled with one out in the fourth. The Reds went on to load the bases, but Adam Dunn popped up and Jason LaRue struck out.
The Reds chased Miller in the sixth when Guillen reached on Kent's error at second base, Sean Casey walked and Aaron Boone homered.
Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 28th save in 31 opportunities.
Graves allowed eight hits and five runs in 6 1-3 innings and lost his third straight start. He was replaced in the seventh after giving up an RBI single to Eric Bruntlett that made it 5-3.
Notes: Houston's four starting pitchers in the series came out of it with a combined 20-0 career record against the Reds. Jeriome Robertson is 2-0, Roy Oswalt is 8-0, and Ron Villone and Miller each are 5-0 ... The first-inning run scored by the Astros left Reds starters with an 8.07 ERA in the first inning this season. ... 2B D'Angelo Jimenez's seventh-inning single gave him at least one hit in all 10 of his games with the Reds since he was acquired from the White Sox.
| Houston | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Totals | 32 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 4 | |
| Biggio cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .275 |
| Ensberg 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .309 |
| Bagwell 1b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | .277 |
| JKent 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .310 |
| Berkman lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .282 |
| Hidalgo rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .330 |
| Ausmus c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .202 |
| Bruntlett ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .273 |
| WMiller p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .139 |
| Gallo p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| a-Merced ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Stone p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Lidge p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Wagner p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Cincinnati | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Totals | 33 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 12 | |
| DJimenez 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
| Taylor cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .216 |
| JGuillen rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
| Casey 1b | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .304 |
| ABoone 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .266 |
| Dunn lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .201 |
| Reitsma p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .125 |
| b-Branyan ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .220 |
| Williamson p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
| LaRue c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .236 |
| JCastro ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .235 |
| c-Larkin ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .274 |
| Graves p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .122 |
| RMateo lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .228 |
| Houston | 100 | 201 | 101 | -6 | 9 | 1 |
| Cincinnati | 000 | 003 | 000 | -3 | 5 | 0 |
a-grounded into double play for Gallo in the 7th. b-struck out for Reitsma in the 8th. c-flied out for Castro in the 9th.
E-JKent (7). LOB-Houston 2, Cincinnati 6. 2B-Biggio (29), Berkman (17). HR-JKent (12), off Williamson; ABoone (18), off WMiller; Bagwell 2 (20), off Graves 2. RBIs-Bagwell 4 (54), JKent (51), Bruntlett (3), ABoone 3 (61). SB-ABoone (13). SF-Bagwell. GIDP-Berkman, Merced.
Runners left in scoring position-Houston 1 (Bruntlett); Cincinnati 3 (LaRue 3).
Runners moved up-Ensberg, Ausmus.
DP-Cincinnati 2 (DJimenez, JCastro and Casey), (DJimenez, JCastro and Casey).
| Houston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| WMiller W, 7-9 | 5 1/3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 111 | 4.60 |
| Gallo H, 3 | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.00 |
| Stone H, 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 3.44 |
| Lidge H, 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2.37 |
| Wagner S, 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 2.14 |
| Cincinnati | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Graves L, 4-10 | 6 1/3 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 66 | 5.59 |
| Reitsma | 1 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 4.25 |
| Williamson | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 3.43 |
Inherited runners-scored-Reitsma 2-0.
HBP-by Graves (Hidalgo). WP-Williamson.
Umpires-Home, Phil Cuzzi; First, Jerry Crawford; Second, Brian O'Nora; Third, Larry Poncino.
T-2:37. A-32,062 (42,263).
How the runs scored:
Astros first. Biggio doubled to left. Ensberg grounded out, second baseman Jimenez to first baseman Casey, Biggio to third. Bagwell hit a sacrifice fly to left fielder Dunn, Biggio scored. Kent lined out to center fielder Taylor.
1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Astros 1, Reds 0.
Astros fourth. Ensberg infield single to third. Bagwell homered to left on the first pitch, Ensberg scored. Kent singled to center. Berkman grounded into a double play, second baseman Jimenez to shortstop Castro to first baseman Casey, Kent out. Hidalgo flied out to left fielder Dunn.
2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on. Astros 3, Reds 0.
Astros sixth. Biggio lined out to shortstop Castro. Ensberg grounded out, third baseman Boone to first baseman Casey. Bagwell homered to center on a 2-1 count. Kent flied out to right fielder Guillen.
1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Astros 4, Reds 0.
Reds sixth. Taylor struck out. Guillen safe on Kent's error. Casey singled to center, Guillen to third. Boone homered to left on a full count, Guillen scored, Casey scored. Gallo pitching. Dunn popped out to second baseman Kent. LaRue popped out to right fielder Hidalgo.
3 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 0 left on. Astros 4, Reds 3.
Astros seventh. Berkman doubled to center. Hidalgo was hit by a pitch. Ausmus popped out to first baseman Casey. Bruntlett singled to center, Berkman scored, Hidalgo to third. Merced pinch-hitting for Gallo. Reitsma pitching. Mateo in as left fielder. Merced grounded into a double play, second baseman Jimenez to shortstop Castro to first baseman Casey, Bruntlett out.
1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Astros 5, Reds 3.
Astros ninth. Williamson pitching. Kent homered to left on the first pitch. Berkman walked on four pitches. On Williamson's wild pitch, Berkman to second. Hidalgo struck out. Ausmus grounded out, shortstop Castro to first baseman Casey, Berkman to third. Bruntlett struck out.
1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 left on. Astros 6, Reds 3.
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