By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

NEW YORK - The Reds have two wins since the All-Star break. Both belong to Jose Acevedo.

Acevedo (2-0) beat the New York Mets 8-3 before a crowd of 29,305 at Shea Stadium Saturday. He threw his first career complete game, allowing three runs on five hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts and two walks.

Acevedo threw seven shutout innings in his previous outing. It's only two starts, but you have wonder why the pitching-poor Reds waited until July 18 to call him up from Louisville.

Acevedo wondered, too, but he never wavered.

"I tell you what, guys," he said. "I came back ready this time."

It looks that way. Since his call-up, Acevedo has thrown 17 innings. He has allowed three runs (1.59 ERA) and eight hits, and struck out 16 and walked five.

"He's been impressive," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "No question."

Acevedo pitched six 1-2-3 innings Saturday and pitched out of jams with minimum damage in the other three.

"He made pitches," Boone said. "He had excellent command. He was able to throw the breaking ball for strikes.

"We saw the strikeout, which we usually don't see."

Acevedo, a 25-year-old right-hander, has ended four-game losing streaks in each of his two starts.

Why did this guy spend 3 1/2 months in Triple-A?

"I don't know," outfielder Jose Guillen said. "I was surprised he didn't make it out of spring training."

Said Acevedo: "I look at this as my last opportunity. I know what I've got. I give them my best every time out."

Cincinnati's hitting stars were Adam Dunn (3-for-5, two RBI and Juan Castro (2-for-4, two-run homer).

D'Angelo Jimenez went 0-for-4 to end his hitting streak at 15 games. That streak was the longest by a debuting Red in 30 years. It was the longest in the majors in that category since Juan Pierre hit in his first 16 games for Colorado in 2000.

The Reds got a rare first-inning lead. Jimenez led off and was hit in the back of the neck by an Aaron Heilman pitch. Jimenez was on the ground a few moments but was able to stay in the game.

Dunn followed with a single. Heilman got the next hitters to nearly work out of the jam, but Aaron Boone drove in two runs with a single. Boone stole second and scored on Ruben Mateo's double to right to make it 3-0.

Cliff Floyd led off the Mets' second with a home run to dead-center field that eluded a leaping Mateo at the wall.

The run broke a string nine scoreless innings by Acevedo since he was called up.

In the third inning, Dunn doubled and scored an out later on Casey's single.

The Mets cut the Reds' lead to 4-2 in the bottom half of that inning when Jose Reyes singled, went to second on Jason Phillips' single and scored on Floyd's sacrifice fly.

Dunn came up with a huge hit in the sixth. Jason LaRue walked and went to third on Castro's single. After Acevedo sacrificed Castro to second, Jimenez took a called third strike on a full count.

The Mets brought in left-hander Graeme Lloyd to face Dunn, who singled to right on the first pitch to score LaRue and Castro and make it 6-2.

It was Dunn's first three-hit game since May 11. He came into Saturday on a 5-for-47 (.106) skid.

"I swung at some pitches tonight that I've been taking," Dunn said. "I said, anything middle away, I'm swinging at."

Castro added a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh.

From there, Acevedo retired the final nine batters he faced. He threw 111 pitches - 81 of which were strikes.

Did he get tired?

"Not really," he said. "You don't get tired when you're excited. I was excited."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	4	1	0	0	0	1	.333
Dunn lf	5	2	3	2	0	0	.208
JGuillen rf	4	0	1	0	1	2	.341
Casey 1b	5	0	1	1	0	0	.303
ABoone 3b	5	1	2	2	0	0	.271
RMateo cf	5	0	1	1	0	2	.215
LaRue c	3	2	2	0	1	0	.239
JCastro ss	4	2	2	2	0	0	.244
JoAcevedo p	3	0	0	0	0	3	.000
Totals	38	8	12	8	2	8

New York	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Duncan cf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.313
Reyes ss	4	1	1	0	0	0	.280
JPhillips 1b	4	1	2	0	0	2	.327
Floyd lf	2	1	1	2	1	0	.274
Cedeno rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.250
Wigginton 3b	3	0	0	1	0	2	.266
VWilson c	2	0	0	0	0	1	.254
McEwing 2b	2	0	0	0	1	1	.237
Heilman p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Lloyd p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Almonte p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
TClark ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.221
Wheeler p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JoFranco p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	28	3	5	3	2	10

Cincinnati	301	002	200	-8	12	0
New York	011	001	000	-3	5	0

LOB-Cin. 7, NY 3. 2B-Dunn (7), RMateo (3), LaRue (17), JPhillips (13), Cedeno (11). HR-JCastro (6), off Almonte; Floyd (17), off JoAcevedo. RBIs-Dunn 2 (51), Casey (52), ABoone 2 (65), RMateo (10), JCastro 2 (18), Floyd 2 (56), Wigginton (47). SB-ABoone (14). CS-Cedeno (8). S-JoAcevedo, VWilson. SF-Floyd, Wigginton.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JoAcevedo W, 2-0	9	5	3	3	2	10	111	1.59

New York	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Heilman L, 1-3	5 2/3	8	6	6	2	5	101	7.59
Lloyd	1/3	2	0	0	0	0	5	3.31
Almonte	1	2	2	2	0	2	15	9.45
Wheeler	1	0	0	0	0	1	10	2.31
JoFranco	1	0	0	0	0	0	9	3.63

IBB-off JoAcevedo (McEwing) 1. HBP-by Heilman (DJimenez). Umpires-Home, Jim Wolf; First, Steve Rippley; Second, Jerry Meals; Third, Larry Vanover. T-2:33. A-29,305 (56,749).

How the runs scored in Saturday's game between the Reds and the Mets

Reds first. Jimenez was hit by a pitch. Dunn singled to center, Jimenez to second. Guillen struck out. Casey grounded out, first baseman Phillips unassisted, Jimenez to third, Dunn to second. Boone singled to center, Jimenez scored, Dunn scored. Boone stole second. Mateo doubled to center, Boone scored. LaRue flied out to center fielder Duncan. 3 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Reds 3, Mets 0.

Mets second. Floyd homered to center on a 2-1 count. Cedeno doubled to left. Wigginton struck out. Wilson sacrificed, pitcher Acevedo to first baseman Casey, Cedeno to third. McEwing was intentionally walked. Heilman grounded out, catcher LaRue to first baseman Casey. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Reds 3, Mets 1.

Reds third. Dunn doubled to left. Guillen grounded out, shortstop Reyes to first baseman Phillips, Dunn to third. Casey singled to left, Dunn scored. Boone popped out to right fielder Cedeno. Mateo flied out to left fielder Floyd. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Reds 4, Mets 1.

Mets third. Duncan struck out. Reyes infield single to third. Phillips singled to left, Reyes to third. Floyd hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder Mateo, Reyes scored. Cedeno grounded into fielder's choice, shortstop Castro to second baseman Jimenez, Phillips out. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Reds 4, Mets 2.

Reds sixth. LaRue walked on a full count. Castro singled to right, LaRue to third. Acevedo sacrificed, pitcher Heilman to first baseman Phillips, Castro to second. Jimenez struck out. Lloyd pitching. Dunn singled to right, LaRue scored, Castro scored. Guillen singled to left, Dunn to second. Casey grounded out, first baseman Phillips to pitcher Lloyd. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Reds 6, Mets 2.

Mets sixth. Phillips doubled to center. Floyd walked on four pitches. Cedeno grounded into fielder's choice, first baseman Casey to shortstop Castro, Phillips to third, Floyd out. Wigginton hit a sacrifice fly to right fielder Guillen, Phillips scored. Cedeno was caught stealing, catcher LaRue to second baseman Jimenez, Cedeno out. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Reds 6, Mets 3.

Reds seventh. Almonte pitching. Boone lined out to right fielder Cedeno. Mateo struck out. LaRue doubled to center. Castro homered to left on a 1-2 count, LaRue scored. Acevedo struck out. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on. Reds 8, Mets 3.