By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's game

LOS ANGELES - As the losses mount, Danny Graves keeps talking about how sick he is of losing. Graves was sick about the way he lost his fifth consecutive decision Tuesday night.

Graves and the Reds lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 before a crowd of 37,744 at Dodger Stadium.

Two of the four runs Graves allowed scored on Shawn Green's double in the fifth. The painful part: The runners, Dave Roberts and Cesar Izturis, reached on two-out, four-pitch walks -- the first walks Graves had issued in 27 innings.

"I pride myself on throwing strikes," Graves said. "Two-out walks. You know they're going to find a way to score. As a pitcher, that what kills you."

Graves went six innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He falls to 4-12 and has not won since July 1. He is 1-10 since May 14.

He was coming off back-to-back quality starts. It looked like he was headed toward another before the walks in the fifth.

"Every time, one inning kills me," Graves said. "It's OK to give up one or two here and there, but you can't give up three in one inning. That absolutely crushes you."

Los Angeles starter Kevin Brown also came in on a four-game losing streak and had not recorded a win since June 17. That's a testimony to the Dodgers lack of offense - not the way Brown had pitched. Brown, in fact, has given up two runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts.

Tuesday, he went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits, to improve to 11-5.

"We had a lot of opportunities," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "Every time I looked up we had runners on. Against a pitcher like Brown, when you get opportunities, you better than advantage of them."

The Reds got to Brown for two runs in the third. D'Angelo Jimenez and Barry Larkin singled with one out.

They scored when Sean Casey dropped a ball down the left-field line. Left fielder Jeromy Burnitz went stumbling, bumbling after it. He even lost his glove in the process. Casey ended up with a triple.

But Adam Dunn and Jason LaRue struck out to leave Casey at third.

The Dodgers got a run back in the third. Alex Cora led off with a double and scored an out later on Izturis' double.

The fifth was an ugly inning for Graves. Cora tied the game with a long homer to left. It was only Cora's third home run of the year.

Graves got Brown to bounce out for the second out of the inning. He then walked Roberts. It was the first walk by Graves in five starts, dating back to July 9. He followed it by walking Izturis, as well.

"That's what happens when you get fast runners on," Graves said. "I lost my arm slot and couldn't get it back."

Green got both of them in by hitting the first pitch he saw to the wall in right-center for a double.

"I think Danny was trying to get ahead," Miley said. "Green jumped on it and hit a gap shot."

The 4-2 lead looked pretty big because Brown had retired eight straight at that point.

Brown struck out the first two hitters in the seventh. But after Jimenez walked and Larkin singled for his third hit of the night, LA manager Jim Tracy lifted Brown for lefty Tom Martin.

Martin walked Casey to load the bases. He fell behind Adam Dunn 2-0 before coming back to get Dunn to strike out swinging. It was Dunn's third strike out of the night.

"He's been more aggressive the last five, six games," Miley said of Dunn. "Tonight, I think it was a case of being overaggressive. He chased some pitches. He was only one. We left a lot of guys out there."

The Reds left nine on base, striking out 13 times.

The Dodgers added an unearned run off Kent Mercker in the seventh.

NOTE: The Reds are expected to recall Brandon Larson from Triple-A Louisville today.

The corresponding roster move will be announced today. Larson is hitting .320 with 20 home runs and 74 RBI at Louisville.

It will be Larson's third stint with the Reds. He was sent back to Louisville July 26 because the Reds needed an extra middle infielder. The Reds tried to recall him July 29 after the Aaron Boone trade but couldn't because he had not yet been down for the minimum 10 days.

               1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9     R  H  E
               -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -     -  -  -
CINCINNATI     0  0  2   0  0  0   0  0  0     2  9  1
LOS ANGELES    0  0  1   0  3  0   1  0  x     5  7  1      (FINAL)

BATTERIES: CIN - DANNY GRAVES, KENT MERCKER (7TH), RYAN WAGNER (8TH) 
                 AND JASON LARUE 

           LOS - KEVIN BROWN, TOM MARTIN (7TH), PAUL QUANTRILL 
                 (8TH), ERIC GAGNE (9TH) AND PAUL LO DUCA 


            WP - KEVIN BROWN (11-5)
            LP - DANNY GRAVES (4-12)
          SAVE - ERIC GAGNE (36)

HOME RUNS: CIN - NONE

           LOS - ALEX CORA (3) OFF DANNY GRAVES IN THE 5TH, 0 ON 



     TIME: 2:34     ATT: 37,744

PROBABLES: CIN - JOSE ACEVEDO (2-0, 2.63)
           LOS - ODALIS PEREZ (6-9, 4.70)
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Extended Box


CINCINNATI (2) VS LOS ANGELES (5) - FINAL

CINCINNATI             ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
D Jimenez 2b            4  1  1  0   1  1   0  .324
B Larkin ss             5  1  3  0   0  1   0  .270
S Casey 1b              3  0  1  2   1  1   1  .295
A Dunn lf               4  0  1  0   0  3   6  .218
J LaRue c               4  0  1  0   0  1   4  .247
R Mateo rf              4  0  2  0   0  1   1  .252
R Taylor cf             4  0  0  0   0  2   4  .193
J Castro 3b             4  0  0  0   0  2   1  .250
D Graves p              2  0  0  0   0  0   0  .128
 a-M Budzinski ph       1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .000
 K Mercker p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 R Wagner p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 b-R Olmedo ph          1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .306

Totals                 36  2  9  2   2 13  17

a-struck out swinging for D Graves in the 7th;  
b-grounded to pitcher for R Wagner in the 9th.

BATTING: 3B - S Casey (2, K Brown). 
RBI - S Casey 2 (59). 
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Dunn 2, J LaRue 2, 
R Taylor 1. 
GIDP - R Taylor. 
Team LOB - 9. 
 
FIELDING: E - J LaRue (5, throw). 
DP: 1 (J Castro-D Jimenez-S Casey). 
 

LOS ANGELES            ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
D Roberts cf            2  1  0  0   2  0   1  .251
C Izturis ss            3  1  1  1   1  1   2  .246
S Green rf              4  0  2  2   0  1   2  .265
J Burnitz lf            4  0  0  0   0  2   2  .257
P Lo Duca c             4  0  0  0   0  0   0  .292
R Ventura 3b-1b         3  0  1  0   1  0   0  .167
J Cabrera 1b            4  0  0  0   0  2   2  .253
 A Beltre 3b            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .222
A Cora 2b               3  2  2  1   0  0   0  .233
K Brown p               2  0  0  0   0  0   1  .205
 T Martin p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 a-R Coomer ph          1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .220
 J Romano pr            0  1  0  0   0  0   0  .083
 P Quantrill p          0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 E Gagne p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000

Totals                 30  5  7  4   4  6  10

a-singled to left for R Coomer in the 7th.

BATTING: 2B - A Cora (17, D Graves); C Izturis (12, D Graves); 
S Green (38, D Graves). 
HR - A Cora (3, 5th inning off D Graves 0 on, 1 Out). 
RBI - C Izturis (25), A Cora (23), S Green 2 (54). 
2-out RBI - C Izturis, S Green 2. 
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Burnitz 1, S Green 2. 
GIDP - J Cabrera. 
Team LOB - 5. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - D Roberts 2 (27, 2nd base off K Mercker/J LaRue, 
2nd base off D Graves/J LaRue), J Romano 2 (2, 2nd base off 
K Mercker/J LaRue, 3rd base off K Mercker/J LaRue). 
 
FIELDING: E - R Ventura (1, ground ball). 
DP: 1 (A Cora-C Izturis-J Cabrera). 

 

----------------------------------------------------
    CINCINNATI      - 002 000 000   --   2
    LOS ANGELES     - 001 030 10x   --   5
----------------------------------------------------

CINCINNATI                   ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
D Graves (L, 4-12)            6       6   4   4   2   2   1   5.34
K Mercker                     1 1/3   1   1   0   1   3   0   2.57
R Wagner                        2/3   0   0   0   1   1   0   2.08

LOS ANGELES                  ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
K Brown (W, 11-5)             6 2/3   8   2   2   1   9   0   2.12
T Martin (H, 20)                1/3   0   0   0   1   1   0   3.41
P Quantrill (H, 16)           1       1   0   0   0   1   0   1.63
E Gagne (S, 36)               1       0   0   0   0   2   0   1.67

Pitches-strikes: D Graves 86-55; K Mercker 37-23; R Wagner 10-5; 
K Brown 
110-73; T Martin 9-4; P Quantrill 10-8; E Gagne 12-7. 
Ground balls-fly balls: D Graves 11-5; K Mercker 1-0; R Wagner 0-1; 
K Brown 8-3; T Martin 0-0; P Quantrill 0-2; E Gagne 1-0. 
Batters faced: D Graves 25; K Mercker 6; R Wagner 3; K Brown 29; 
T Martin 2; P Quantrill 4; E Gagne 3. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Matt Hollowell. 1B--Wally Bell. 
2B--John Hirschbeck. 3B--Paul Emmel. 

T--2:34. Att--37,744. 
Weather: 74 degrees, clear. Wind: 6 mph, right to left.
 
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