By John Erardi and Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds first baseman Sean Casey was supposed to be wired with a microphone for the Fox telecast of Saturday's game, and it's a shame the microphone, as Casey put it, "never arrived."

Casey would have given commentators and fans something to laugh and talk about.

In the top of the second inning and already trailing 2-0, Casey saved the major-league debut of Reds pitcher Josh Hall by snaring a line drive off the bat of Jose Cruz Jr.; in the top of the fifth, he dove three rows deep into the stands behind first base to turn a souvenir into an out.

In the bottom of the fifth, his two-RBI hit broke open a 2-2 tie; and, in the seventh inning - after popping out to third base with two on, one out and the score tied at 4 - he must have had something choice to say under his breath, because his initial move to hurl the bat caused Adam Dunn to halt in his tracks during his approach to the plate.

"That was pretty fun going into the stands," Casey said. "You always dream about going into the stands and pulling one back. I didn't realize how far in I was. I was looking for some nachos to eat."

He'd seen former New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly glove a foul ball and, with his other hand, help himself to a handful of popcorn, but Casey couldn't find any nachos.

Casey said he made up his mind right away he was going for the foul ball.

"There've been times in the past where I've gone in passively, and the next thing you know a fan is going for it just like I am," Casey said. "Sometimes if you just dive in like, 'Hey, that's my ball!,' everyone gets out of your way."

D-LO: D'Angelo Jimenez, batting leadoff, got the Reds right back into the game with his first home run as a Reds player - a line drive into the Sun Deck - in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 2-1. His two hits Saturday put him at .333 (31-for-93) since becoming a Red.

Perhaps that indicates now-departed Reds manager Bob Boone knew what he was doing when he put Jimenez in the lineup right away after former Reds general manager Jim Bowden acquired him from the White Sox but called him a 25th man.

How good is Jimenez?

"I think we may have found our second baseman for the next few years," Casey said.

Barry Larkin said after watching Jimenez play when he first joined the Reds, he thought, "How could they (the White Sox) give up on him?"

"He seems to be able to do everything," Larkin said. "He's got all the tools."

RYAN'S HOPE: The magical bubble on which Ryan Wagner - the Reds' No. 1 draft pick - had been riding (he had retired 18 of the 19 batters he had faced going into Saturday's game) has burst.

He gave up a solo home run to Benito Santiago in the sixth and another solo blast to pinch-hitter Andres Galarraga in the seventh.

Nobody was crying about it, though. Wagner was credited with the win, his first, because the Reds took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh on Larkin's bases-loaded walk.

BRANYAN DOWN: Russell Branyan, who suffered a high-ankle sprain while sliding into the wall after a foul ball Friday night, says the ankle is "real sore and tight."

"I've had this before, but not one this bad," he said. "They say with a high-ankle sprain, you kind of know more where you're at after three days, so I should know more (today)."

ROLL CALL: Pitcher Carlos Almanzar has been reinstated from the suspended list and is back pitching for Triple-A Louisville.

Almanzar and fellow pitcher Josias Manzanillo walked out of the Bats' clubhouse July 2, upset over not being promoted to the Reds. Manzanillo remains on the suspended list.

"Carlos has got major-league stuff and everybody knows that," said Tim Naehring, Reds director of player development. "Sometimes the timing doesn't work out."

Almanzar, 29, was 2-2 with a 3.31 ERA and ranked among the International League leaders with 13 saves when he left the team.

In his first appearance since rejoining Louisville, Almanzar allowed one run in a one-inning relief appearance against Toledo Friday.

"I told him that the worst-case scenario is that he would come back to Triple-A, pitch in front of scouts and up his value," Naehring said. "But if he was in the Dominican, nobody could see what he was doing. All they would see is someone that left the club."