By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

San Diego Padres' Mark Kotsay watches the flight of his game-winning RBI double in the 12th inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

SAN DIEGO - Mark Kotsay's double to deep center lifted the San Diego Padres over the Reds 1-0 in 12 innings Friday night.

Brian Reith, the Reds' seventh pitcher of the night, walked Sean Burroughs and Ryan Klesko on four pitches each before the double.

The Reds continued to do their imitation of the Great Slumber Company on the West Coast road swing.

The Reds hit .198 and scored a total of six runs in losing three straight to the Dodgers in Los Angeles. The trip to San Diego didn't do anything for the bats. The Reds managed only seven singles Friday and none of them would fall under the category of big hits.

"We can't continue to get pitching performances like that and not hit," Reds manager Dave Miley said.

The Reds haven't scored in 14 straight innings. The loss Friday was their fifth straight. They've scored a total of nine runs in the five games.

Friday's loss was particularly troubling because the Reds got the winning run to third in the ninth, 11th and 12th.

"We had opportunities," Miley said. "And, in my personal opinion, we got good pitches to hit. That's easy for me to say sitting over there."

Here were the opportunities Miley was talking about:

• Wily Mo Pena singled with two out in the 12th. Reggie Taylor broke an 0-for-26 skid by grounding a single into right. Ray Olmedo nearly won it. He hit a high hopper to first. Phil Nevin just beat him to the bag.

• Olmedo led off the 11th with a walk. D'Angelo Jimenez bunted him to second. Jason LaRue, who had entered in the 10th in a double switch, grounded out. The Padres intentionally walked Sean Casey. That brought up Brandon Larson with a chance to win for the second time in three innings. Just like in the ninth, Larson fell behind 0-2 and then took three balls to get the count full. He fouled off a pitch, then took strike three.

• Pinch-hitter Russell Branyan led off the ninth with a walk. Former Padre D'Angelo Jimenez bunted pinch-runner Olmedo to second. Barry Larkin followed with a solid single to right. Right fielder Gary Matthews Jr., who had just entered the game as a pinch-hitter, nailed Olmedo at the plate. The ball hit the mitt of catcher Gary Bennett, who had the plate securely blocked.

The decision to send Olmedo really stung when Sean Casey followed with a single to center.

The Padres had a meeting at the mound with starter Jake Peavy, who was at 99 pitches, after Casey's single. Peavy was left in to face Brandon Larson. Peavy got ahead 0-2, threw three balls to make the count full, then struck out Larson with a low and outside slider.

It was third base coach Ray Knight's call to send Olmedo.

"I'll never second guess my third base coach," Miley said. "We've been struggling. Sometimes, you feel you have to generate something. We all know how far he was out. That makes it look bad, but the guy made a perfect throw."

John Bale kept the Reds in it in his first major league start, but the offense had no clue against Peavy until the ill-fated rally in the ninth.

Peavy, a second-year right-hander, limited the Reds to three singles through eight innings. None of the three advanced to second.

Bale threw 4 2/3 shutout innings, despite dancing with danger in all but one inning he worked.

Bale will likely get another start.

"He didn't do anything to say he wouldn't," Miley said.

Bale left the bases loaded in the first, pitched out of a mini-jam in the second and left a runner at third in the fourth.

Bale, the 28-year-old left-hander, got the first two outs of the fifth routinely. But when he walked Mark Kotsay and allowed a single to Mark Loretta, manager Dave Miley brought in Scott Sullivan to face Phil Nevin.

Nevin hit a smash that third baseman Larson got to with a diving stop. Larson got up and threw out Nevin to end the inning.

It was the first action for Sullivan since he went on the disabled list July 18 with shoulder tendinitis. Nevin was the only better he faced.

John Riedling followed and retired all six batters he faced. Ryan Wagner pitched a scoreless eighth. Felix Heredia (1 2/3 innings) and Chris Reitsma (1 1/3 innings) kept it tied at 0-0 until the 12th.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	3	0	0	0	0	0	.310
Larkin ss	4	0	2	0	0	0	.275
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
LaRue c	1	0	0	0	0	0	.239
Casey 1b	4	0	1	0	1	0	.293
Larson 3b	5	0	0	0	0	3	.101
Dunn lf	5	0	1	0	0	1	.214
RMateo rf	5	0	0	0	0	2	.239
Stinnett c	3	0	1	0	1	1	.261
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
e-WPena ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.170
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Taylor cf	5	0	1	0	0	3	.191
Bale p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
a-Budzinski ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.235
Wagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
c-Branyan ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.246
1-Olmedo pr-ss	1	0	0	0	1	0	.291
Totals	39	0	7	0	4	10

San Diego	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Merloni 3b	5	0	0	0	0	0	.266
g-Klesko ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.251
Kotsay cf	4	0	3	1	2	0	.258
Loretta 2b	5	0	2	0	0	0	.322
Nevin 1b	5	0	0	0	0	1	.259
White lf	3	0	1	0	1	0	.271
Buchanan rf	2	0	0	0	1	1	.272
b-Matthews ph-rf	2	0	0	0	0	1	.274
Bennett c	5	0	1	0	0	1	.188
RVazquez ss	5	0	0	0	0	1	.261
Peavy p	3	0	0	0	0	1	.098
d-Ojeda ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.257
Witasick p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Beck p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
f-Burroughs ph	0	1	0	0	1	0	.280
Totals	40	1	7	1	6	6

Cincinnati	000	000	000	000	-0	7	0
San Diego	000	000	000	001	-1	7	0

One out when winning run scored.

a-grounded out for Sullivan in the 6th. b-struck out for Buchanan in the 8th. c-walked for Wagner in the 9th. d-grounded out for Peavy in the 9th. e-singled for Reitsma in the 12th. f-walked for Beck in the 12th. g-walked for Merloni in the 12th.

1-ran for Branyan in the 9th.

LOB-Cincinnati 9, San Diego 12. 2B-Kotsay (16). RBIs-Kotsay (24). CS-Buchanan (2). S-DJimenez 2. GIDP-Casey.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3 (Larson 2, Olmedo); San Diego 6 (Nevin, Buchanan 2, Matthews, RVazquez).

Runners moved up-LaRue, Nevin.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (Stinnett and DJimenez); San Diego 1 (Nevin, RVazquez and Peavy).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Bale	4 2/3	5	0	0	2	1	75	1.35
Sullivan	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	6	3.83
Riedling	2	0	0	0	0	2	25	5.00
Wagner	1	1	0	0	1	1	24	1.86
Heredia	1 2/3	0	0	0	1	1	20	2.55
Reitsma	1 1/3	0	0	0	0	1	16	4.11
Reith L, 1-2	1/3	1	1	1	2	0	14	4.00

San Diego	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Peavy	9	5	0	0	1	6	105	4.16
Witasick	2	0	0	0	3	3	43	3.46
Beck W, 2-1	1	2	0	0	0	1	17	1.90

Inherited runners-scored-Reitsma 1-0, Sullivan 2-0.

IBB-off Witasick (Casey) 1, off Wagner (White) 1. HBP-by Bale (White). WP-Wagner.

Umpires-Home, Alfonso Marquez; First, Kevin Kelley; Second, Jeff Nelson; Third, Tim Tschida.

T-3:33. A-24,543 (66,307).

How the runs scored in Friday's game between the Reds and the Padres

Padres twelfth. Reith pitching. Vazquez fouled out to shortstop Olmedo. Burroughs pinch-hitting for Beck. Burroughs walked on four pitches. Klesko pinch-hitting for Merloni. Klesko walked on four pitches, Burroughs to second. Kotsay doubled to center, Burroughs scored, Klesko to third.

1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 left on. Padres 1, Reds 0.